Trian Partners Recommends Disney Shareholders Withhold Votes for Froman, Vote For Peltz

Earlier this year, it was revealed that Disney investor Trian Partners was launching a proxy campaign to have Nelson Peltz appointed to the Walt Disney Company Board of Directors. Today, in a new letter to Disney shareholders, Trian restated its case for Peltz while also recommending that shareholders withhold their votes for a sitting director.

What’s Happening:

  • This morning, the Restore the Magic website (launched by Trian) posted a new letter aimed at Disney shareholders.
  • In it, they recommend that shareholders withhold their vote to reelect Disney Board member Michael B.G. Froman and vote for Nelson Peltz instead.
  • The letter does not elaborate on why Froman was chosen as the director Peltz should replace.
  • As it states, “Disney could have made room for Nelson before it decided to decrease its Board from 12 to 11 directors. Instead, it chose to shrink the Board and meet us in a costly proxy fight. Therefore, please vote ‘FOR’ Nelson Peltz and ‘WITHHOLD’ on Michael B.G. Froman to make room for Nelson.”
  • Froman has been a Director of the Walt Disney Company since 2018. He’s also currently the Vice Chairman and President, Strategic Growth at Mastercard Incorporated.
  • Elsewhere in the letter, Trian alleges that Disney’s Board was responsible for the 44% loss $DIS shares saw in 2022.
  • Trian’s letter suggests that Disney’s Directors own “very little Disney stock” and says the Board has failed to “heed constructive shareholder input” among other things.
  • In their own proxy statement released last month, Disney rebutted some of Trian’s assertions. This included issuing a defense of the company’s purchase of 21st Century Fox assets.
  • Disney has yet to respond to this latest update but has previously recommended a vote for all of its current Board members and a vote against Peltz’s appointment.
  • There’s currently no date for the 2023 Disney Meeting of the Shareholders, but the company is set to announce its quarterly earnings on February 8th.