Disney Board Holds Off ‘Activist Investor’ Nelson Peltz

The atmosphere at Disney’s corporate offices must feel slightly lighter these days, between Disney World’s recent detente with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and news today that shareholders have voted against billionaire “activist investor” Nelson Peltz’s attempt to snag two seats on the company’s board.

As io9 previously explained, a behind-the-scenes situation that probably wouldn’t interest the average Disney fan suddenly became more headline-worthy when Peltz gave an interview to the Financial Times in which he complained about diversity in recent Disney Marvel projects, including last year’s The Marvels and the Oscar-winning smash hit Black Panther. “Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that’s all women?” the 81-year-old asked. “Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?” Not only was this attitude off-putting to fans, it also rubbed high-profile Disney shareholders the wrong way—including Star Wars creator George Lucas, who spoke out against Peltz’ proxy fight.

As the Hollywood Reporter updates, today’s annual shareholder meeting proved to be “a win for the Walt Disney Co. and CEO Bob Iger” as all of the company’s director nominees “have been elected by shareholders, rebuffing the activist investor Nelson Peltz, who had been running a high-profile campaign to put himself and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo on the company’s board.”

Sources cited by the trade make it sound like the voting wasn’t exactly close, coming out decisively in favor of Team Iger. THR also has a statement from Iger, who sounds ready to put the Peltz situation in Disney’s rear-view mirror as quickly as possible: “I want to thank our shareholders for their trust and confidence in our Board and management. With the distracting proxy contest now 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.”

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