Ike Perlmutter, a major Disney stockholder who lent his shares to support a shakeup on the company’s board, has now sold all of them and is moving on, according to a report in the WSJ.
When reached through a spokesperson, Perlmutter, who accumulated the holding when he sold Marvel to Disney in 2009 for more than $4 billion, didn’t disavow this.
Perlmutter had supported Nelson Peltz in a first run at a Disney board seat in 2022 although the activist investor ultimately backed down as Disney began to restructure. But, saying he was ultimately unsatisfied by the turnaround efforts and worried about succession, Peltz started his campaign again, seeing it through the second time to a bitter proxy fight that he ultimately lost this spring.
The former Marvel executive was ultimately fired by Disney after Bob Iger returned as CEO. “Ike and Nelson were working together to try to encourage the board or convince the board to put Nelson on the board,” Iger said then. “They have a relationship that dates back quite some time. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike the job that he would continue to run Marvel after that. Not forever, necessarily.”
In the second round, Perlmutter gave Peltz authorization to vote his shares as the billionaire founder and CEO of Trian Partners sought two board seats, one for himself and another for former Disney executive Jay Rasulo, meaning Disney shareholders would have had to eject two board candidates backed by the company.
After a battle, shareholders voted in April to reelect Disney’s board, snubbing the outsider candidates.
Perlmutter sold his entire position of 25.6 million shares in the months after that vote, said the WSJ, citing communications with an investment adviser seen by the publication. Specifically, he sold his stake between early April and mid-July at an average price of just under $115.
In a parting dig, he told the publication it’s because he doesn’t have confidence in management, and that he might be a buyer again if it falls to $65-$75.
Disney stock is trading down about 3% today at $91. It’s been as high as $124 and as low as $79 over the past year.
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