Nelson Peltz Only Managed To Get 31% of the Vote at Today’s Disney Annual Meeting
Nelson Peltz’s bid to get a seat on The Walt Disney Company board of directors came to an anti-climactic end today when shareholders overwhelmingly voted to reject the activist investor and instead supported the Disney slate of candidates.
As voting tallies were leaked to the press yesterday, it seemed clear that Disney was in the lead. The question for many then was how close the contest would end up being?
Photo: restorethemagic.com
When the dust finally settled today, observers got a clear answer. The most expensive proxy battle in history ended up not being a particularly close contest.
Disney’s Candidates Easily Defeated Peltz
During today’s annual meeting, Horcasio Gutierrez, Disney’s senior EVP chief legal and compliance officer, said that the preliminary vote tabulations showed that Disney’s directors had been re-elected by a “substantial margin.”
Photo: CNBC
Later, we would learn the full story.
According to the preliminary results, Nelson Peltz got just 31% of the votes, while his ally Jay Rasulo got even less.
Maria Elena Lagomasino, the incumbent Disney director whom Trian had targeted to replace, received twice as many votes as Peltz and five times as many as Rasulo.
Photo: Disney
Bob Iger, meanwhile, won reelection with 94% of votes cast in his favor.
“We are immensely grateful to our shareholders for their investment in Disney and their belief in its future, particularly during this period of great change in the broader entertainment industry. We are fortunate to have a highly qualified board of directors who possess a profound commitment to the enduring strength of this company and an enormous amount of experience and expertise, including succession planning,” Disney chairman Mark Parker said in a statement.
Will Peltz Be Back?
While today’s voting was an undeniable victory for Iger and the Disney board, Peltz may not be going away.
Creator: Mike Blake Credit: REUTERS
If Disney can not keep shareholders happy over the next several months, we may see a rematch between Peltz and Disney at next year’s annual meeting.
