Transgender Advocate Blackwells Capital Nominates 3 for Disney Board as Proxy War Escalates

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://mynewsla.com/hollywood/2024/01/03/blackwells-capital-nominates-3-
for-disney-board-as-proxy-war-escalates/

Adding fuel to a simmering proxy war over control of the Burbank-based
Walt Disney Co., the Blackwells Capital group Wednesday nominated three
people for positions on the Disney Board of Directors in a show of support
for company CEO Bob Iger.

The move is a counter-offensive to last month’s announcement by activist
investor Nelson Peltz’s Trian Management Fund that it was nominating two
people — including Peltz — for spots on the board. Peltz has been highly
critical of Iger’s leadership and the direction of the entertainment
giant.

All of the nominations for the board will be presented to Disney
shareholders during the company’s annual meeting this spring.

In a statement announcing its board nominees, Blackwells condemned the
proxy battle being waged by Peltz and Trian as “a contrived campaign that
is disconnected from the needs of Disney stakeholders.” The firm argued
that neither Peltz nor Trian’s other nominee — former Disney CFO James
Rasulo — has “the skillsets Trian claims the board lacks.”

“Rather, we believe Mr. Peltz’s latest effort is driven by animus against
Mr. Iger, and an ego-driven urge to claim credit for a transformation
already underway,” according to Blackwells.

Blackwells’ nominees for the board are former Warner Bros. and NBC
Universal executive Jessica Schell, real estate executive and Tribeca Film
Festival co-founder Craig Hatkoff, and venture capitalist and TaskRabbit
co-founder Leah Solivan.

Blackwells also proposed that any current Disney board members who might
be displaced by one of Blackwells’ nominees be immediately reinstated
through an expansion of the board.

“Blackwells’ highly qualified candidates have the necessary backgrounds
and expertise to support Mr. Iger’s efforts constructively, and complement
the board,” according to a Blackwells statement. “The Trian nominees, and
the reductive nature of its campaign do not provide shareholders those
benefits.”

Disney issued a statement Wednesday saying only that it has “an
experienced, diverse, and highly qualified board that is focused on the
long-term performance of the company, strategic growth initiatives
including the ongoing transformation of its businesses, the succession
planning process, and increasing shareholder value.”

Disney officials said the company’s Governance and Nominating Committee
will review the proposed Blackwells nominees and “provide a recommendation
to the board as part of its governance process.”

Trian Fund Management announced last month that it was nominating Peltz
and Rasulo for seats on the Disney board. Peltz had fought for a spot on
the board earlier last year, but he dropped the effort in February when
Iger announced a massive restructuring plan that included 7,000 layoffs
and $5.5 billion in cost cuts.

In late November, however, Trian announced it was renewing the proxy
battle, expressing dissatisfaction with the company’s direction. The
company announced then that it planned to “take our case for change
directly to shareholders.”

In a statement last month, Peltz said, “As Disney’s largest active
shareholder, we can no longer sit idly by as the incumbent directors and
their hand-picked replacements stand in the way of necessary change, and
peers and competitors continue to outperform.”

“In our view, Disney’s Board has failed to fulfill its essential
responsibilities — overseeing the development of an effective strategy,
planning for orderly succession, aligning executive pay with performance,
and ensuring accountability for operational execution,” Peltz said.
“Shareholder-led board refreshment with focused and aligned directors who
are accountable to the owners of the company is long overdue.”

Disney officials have said there is an ulterior motive behind the Trian
proxy fight, noting Peltz’s ties with former Marvel Entertainment chairman
Isaac Perlmutter, who was fired by Disney in March.

“Mr. Peltz, in partnership with Isaac Perlmutter, a former Disney
executive, intends to take its case to shareholders,” according to
Disney’s statement in November. “Mr. Perlmutter owns 78% of the shares
that Mr. Peltz claims beneficial ownership of, or more than 25 million of
the 33 million shares. This dynamic is relevant to assessing Mr. Peltz and
any other nominees he may put forth as directors, as Mr. Perlmutter was
terminated from his employment by Disney earlier this year and has voiced
his longstanding personal agenda against Disney’s CEO, Robert A. Iger,
which may be different than that of all other shareholders.”

Right. In order for the there to be an agenda against, there must be
compelling reason(s).

After the repeated failures of Disney remakes by woke producers and weak
unrepresentative supporting casts, it's time for Blackwell to be removed
from all facets of Disney. If Iger becomes a casualty of that, so be it.

His weakness and failure to address personnel activism is why Disney is in
the mess it is today.

--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.