After recently losing a proxy fight with The Walt Disney Company leadership, activist investor Nelson Peltz has reportedly sold off all of his Disney stock. CNBC is reporting that he did this at a profit of over $1 billion.
Peltz sold his stock at $120 a share. Currently, Disney stock is trading at around $100 a share. The sale comes just a month and a half after his efforts to join the Disney Board of Directors were blocked. He also wanted former Disney executive Jay Rasulo on the board as well. This marks the second year in a row that Peltz and his Trian Group waged a proxy fight with Disney.
After the shareholder vote where all 12 of the Disney-nominated directors were elected, Bob Iger released a statement. “I just want to take a moment to thank our shareholders for your trust and confidence in the Disney Board and management and the ambitious strategy we are implementing across our businesses to build for the future,” Iger told shareholders. “Now that this distracting proxy contest is behind us, we’re eager to focus 100% of our attention on our most important priorities: growth and value creation for our shareholders and creative excellence for our consumers.”
“We are proud of the impact we have had in refocusing this Company on value creation and good governance,” Trian said in a statement following the shareholder vote. Before the vote, Peltz and his Trian had upped the amount of stock they owned.
Disney stock has been heading in the right direction this year. For the year, the stock is up around 11%. This is slightly ahead of the S&P average. With this proxy fight now in the rearview mirror, Iger and company are looking toward the future. This includes turbocharging its Disney Experiences segment (parks, resorts, consumer products etc), creating quality over quantity in terms of content, and building to the future with streaming for both Disney+ and ESPN.
What do you think of Nelson Peltz selling all of his Disney stock? Is this a good thing? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!
