CalPERS, the influential California pension fund, voted to change Disney’s board, supporting the election of activist traders Nelson Peltz and Jay Rasulo, who have waged a months-long battle with CEO Bob Iger and the current board of directors.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System told Reuters that the fund fabricated its votes for Trian Partners nominees Peltz and Rasulo as several trustees to join Disney’s board. The fund, which manages more than $465 billion in assets, owns about 6.6 million Disney shares, making it one of the company’s top 30 investors. Disney declined to comment on the Reuters report.
“CalPERS believes Walt Disney Co will benefit from the recent looks at its board of directors and has voted its shares in favor of candidates Nelson Peltz and Jay Rasulo,” the US pension fund, which owned 6.65 million shares of the entertainment giant in late December, Reuters reported. This month, Disney had about 1.83 billion shares outstanding.
Peltz, a longtime activist investor, has been publicly important to Disney for more than a year given the struggling company’s stock value and steep losses racked up by its fledgling streaming operations. Disney is back in the fight against Peltz and a separate activist battle to appoint new managers waged by Blackwells Capital.
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Trian and Blackwells said Disney’s board has been very friendly to Iger and senior management during a period of profound transformation for the company’s core film, TV and parks businesses. Trian and Blackwells are also at odds as they wage a public relations war against Disney at a vulnerable time for the world’s largest mainstream media company.
The public relations and lobbying efforts of recent months will come to a head on April 3, when the board election is held as part of Disney’s digital shareholder meeting.
(Pictured: Nelson Peltz and Jay Rasulo, from Trian Partners)
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