Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, speaks during the grand opening ceremony of Shanghai Disney Resort’s Zootopia-themed attraction at Shanghai Disney Resort on December 19, 2023 in Shanghai, China.
Visual China Group | Getty Images
Disney’s Its largest shareholder, index fund manager Vanguard, plans to support management at Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners in Wednesday’s board vote, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Institutional shareholders have until Wednesday to change their vote. Vanguard owns 7.8% of Disney shares. BlackRockDisney’s second-largest shareholder, with 4.2% of the shares, also supports incumbent Chairman and CEO Bob Iger, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Reporting on how Disney’s biggest shareholders supposedly vote sparked sharp criticism from former activist investor Bill Ackman on Tuesday evening.
“Only the company and its advisors have access to how shareholders voted before the day of the annual meeting,” Ackman wrote on the social media platform X. “The reason the progress of a director election must be kept confidential “The final point is that sharing the results can affect the final result.”
Disney shareholders should support Peltz’s efforts, Ackman wrote, both because he would be “very supportive” of Disney and because the media leaks that Ackman claimed came from Disney or its advisers raised questions about why management “was so.” fought hard to maintain it”. him away.
It would be a major blow to Peltz’s ambitions to join the Disney board if both BlackRock and Vanguard supported the media company’s candidates. That left only State Street and Geode Capital Management, the company’s third- and fourth-largest shareholders, respectively, as unknowns.
Through an agreement with former Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter, Trian controls 1.8% of Disney shares, making him the fifth-largest shareholder. Retail investors have until 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday to cast their votes by phone or online.
Trian has won the support of other smaller shareholders, including Neuberger Berman and CalPERS. Disney, for its part, has brought in some of the most recognizable names in the corporate and media world, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and Star Wars creator George Lucas.
Disney’s shareholder meeting begins on Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET.
Vanguard declined to comment to CNBC.
Read the full Bloomberg report here.
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2024-04-02 23:40:01
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