Proactive Investors - The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) investors have again been urged by billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners vehicle to vote out two current board directors.
Trian, which built a near-$3 billion stake in the media giant last year as it shares slumped to a decade low, made its request via a proxy filing.
Last month, Disney formally rejected Trian's proposal Peltz and former Disney finance chief Jay Rasulo to be added to the board as non-executive directors.
This week's proxy filing highlighted the activist firm's call for non-execs Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman to be ejected at the forthcoming annual shareholder meeting, for which Disney has not yet confirmed a date.
Trian plans to work with the $DIS board to help drive outperformance with clear targets, goals, and true accountability in five key areas. Our board nominees, Nelson Peltz and Jay Rasulo, want to bring real change to Disney’s boardroom. https://t.co/Srg9SXP2BC— Restore The Magic (@RestoringMagic) January 22, 2024
According to the Restore The Magic website that Trian set up to back up its campaign, Froman has been on the board five years, during which the Disney total shareholder return has been -24% while the S&P has gained 64%; with Lagomasino on the board for eight years, with a TSR of -23% and the S&P up 137%,
As part of Disney's rejection of Trian's proposed candidates last month, chief executive Bob Iger wrote that the company had embarked on an “unprecedented transformation” to become more cost efficient and he did “not endorse” the nominees in a letter to shareholders on Tuesday.
In February last year, Peltz called off a previous attempt to join the board after the company announced a restructuring plan, but as the shares continued to fall, sliding below $80 in October for the first time since 2014, Peltz has stepped up his campaign again.
In December, Disney appointed two new directors, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) boss James Gorman and former Sky chief Jeremy Darroch, and restored its dividend but Trian said the appointments "will not, in our view, restore investor confidence or address the root cause behind the significant value destruction and missteps that this board has overseen.”
The AGM could be eventful, with another activist also on the shareholder register is Blackwells Capital, which has separately put forward three candidates.