Wall Street activist investor Nelson Peltz and Walt Disney, which is facing a proxy battle with him, have released a video criticizing Peltz's attempt to acquire control and appealing for support for the current management.
On the 11th (local time), Disney posted a video about three minutes long on its shareholder campaign site.
In the video, Disney described the proxy battle waged by Peltz's fund Trian Partners as "divisive and destructive." It also claimed that Peltz and his fund have conducted proxy battles to harm several companies, warning that "Disney could suffer the same fate as when Peltz previously infiltrated GE or DuPont."
Disney is preparing for its annual shareholders' meeting on the 3rd of next month. Peltz and Trian Fund declared at the end of November last year that they would engage in a proxy battle against Disney's board of directors and have since attacked the board and management. Peltz aims to secure seats on Disney's board for himself and Jay Rasulo, former Disney Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Disney criticized Peltz's attempt to take a seat on the board as "seeming closer to vanity than faith in Disney," adding, "If that were not the case, would he have sold 500,000 Disney shares during the past six months of the proxy battle?"
They also pointed out that Peltz has no experience running a global media company and described former CFO Rasulo as "a former employee who was pushed out nearly 10 years ago."
Disney argued that "there is a risk that CEO Bob Iger's remarkable progress since his return could be jeopardized by Peltz." Disney expects to cut costs by at least $7.5 billion by the end of this fiscal year, notably setting an annual content spending reduction target of $4.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Trian Fund responded to Disney's public criticism on the same day, calling it "a statement full of inaccuracies and misleading content aimed at diverting investors' attention from years of Disney's poor performance."
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