Walt Disney Co. said Wednesday that Blackwells Capital LLC has informed the company it plans to nominate three individuals for election to Disney’s board at its 2024 annual shareholder meeting.
Disney
DIS,
said that it has an “experienced, diverse, and highly qualified” board as it works on its transformation but that it would evaluate the proposed nominees and offer a recommendation to the board as part of its governance process.
The announcement comes just hours after Disney announced a confidentiality agreement with activist shareholder ValueAct as it works to stave off another activist, Trian Fund Management, which is led by billionaire Nelson Peltz. The deal with ValueAct, an investor in Disney, ensures the investment firm will support Disney’s recommended nominees for election to the Disney board at the annual meeting, expected this spring.
Blackwells, which reportedly is supportive of Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, is offering a slate of three nominees with entertainment, real-estate and venture-capital experience to Disney shareholders, sources told Reuters.
Blackwells said it will nominate three candidates — Jessica Schell, a former Warner Bros.
WBD,
and NBCUniversal exec; Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Craig Hatkoff; and TaskRabbit founder Leah Solivan — to the Disney board.
The escalating battle for control of Disney’s board highlights the high stakes in the company’s attempted turnaround under Iger, who led Disney from 2005 to 2020 and returned as CEO in November 2022. In a recent interview, Iger acknowledged the rebuild was harder than he expected as Disney competes with Netflix Inc.
NFLX,
Apple Inc.
AAPL,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
and others for streaming customers; mulls its TV properties; and copes with recent movie misfires. [Disney slid to second place as the highest-grossing studio last year, eclipsed by Universal Pictures.]
In a preemptive bid to blunt the board challenge, Disney named former Morgan Stanley
MS,
CEO James Gorman and former Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch as directors in November.
Disney’s stock was up 0.9% in late morning trading Wednesday.
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