On Wednesday afternoon Eastern Time in the United States, global entertainment giant Disney will hold a shareholder meeting, and a highly anticipated "radical investor battle board" drama on Wall Street is about to come to an end.
The key to this battle lies in the election of Disney's board of directors. In addition to the 12 directors officially recommended by Disney, well-known hedge fund Trian Partners also nominated Nelson Peltz, the father-in-law of 81 year old founder and football star Beckham's eldest son, as well as former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to compete for two seats.
A veritable "battle for retail investors"
As a well-known "radical investor" on Wall Street, Peltz's purpose in joining the board of directors is to change the company internally. He once said that Disney should match the salaries of key executives with performance, restore its dominant position in the cinema market, and expand the profit margin of Disney+'s streaming business. Finally, these investors also hope to ensure that CEO Robert Egger can "truly leave" when his contract expires in 2026.
Generally speaking, shareholder meetings in the US stock market are usually dull and routine affairs, but Disney is facing a big challenge this time, reportedly investing over $60 million to resist the challenges of Peltz and others - launching campaign websites, advertising search engines, and placing on some popular podcast programs.
One reason why Disney values it so much is that over 35% of the company's equity is held by retail investors, and their votes may seriously affect the outcome.
According to insiders, in the face of this "shareholder battle", Disney executives have been closely visiting large institutional shareholders and have invited financial tycoon Jamie Damon, renowned director George Lucas, and Disney family member Abigail Disney to stand on the board stage.
Meanwhile, Peltz has recently received support from the California Public Employee Pension System (CalPERS) and private investment firm Neuberger Berman. Some analysts also suggest that if Peltz can win one or two seats, it may open the door to Robert Egger's early departure.
Behind this seat battle, there are also two well-known investors (Bill Ackerman and Musk) who, although not even owning a single Disney stock, passionately support Peltz on social media.
Ackerman questioned media reports that Musk passionately promised to buy stocks
On Wednesday afternoon Beijing time, the world's third-largest billionaire Musk publicly stated that "Peltz should definitely join Disney's board of directors," emphasizing that Peltz can help the company reform, which will "significantly increase Disney's stock price.".
(Source: X)
Musk also stated that although he currently does not own any Disney stocks, if Peltz became a board member, he would "definitely buy Disney stocks.".
(Source: X)
It should be noted that Musk's statement is in response to the remarks of another well-known investor, Akman, who has no Disney stocks.
This morning, Beijing time, Ackerman issued a lengthy article questioning the integrity of a series of media reports - announcing Disney's victory in this battle based on revelations before this Wednesday's shareholder meeting.
Ackerman further pointed out that only listed companies and their advisors can know how shareholders will vote before the shareholders' meeting, and this act of leaking information to the media in advance is illegal because it may affect the results of shareholder voting - some institutional investors may worry that if they vote in favor of opponents (and ultimately lose), Robert Egger may not answer their calls in the future. So if it is clear that radical investors will fail, then these institutions will not take the risk of supporting Peltz.
Ackerman finally called on shareholders to strongly support Peltz's joining of Disney's board of directors based on his understanding of Peltz's abilities and the despicable methods employed by the company and its advisors. Ackerman also "reminded" that institutions that have already voted still have time to change their voting.