The proxy battle to decide the future of The Walt Disney Company is leaning in favor of the current board of directors, as Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners loses a major potential backer.
The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar, reported that more than half of all shares have been voted, with Disney in the lead. BlackRock, Disney’s second-largest shareholder, has thrown its support behind Disney; BlackRock owns around 78 million shares in the company, or the equivalent of $9.5 billion.
The asset manager’s support is a major win for Disney’s current board, which has been working to secure the backing of a number of major shareholders ahead of the company’s annual meeting on April 3. Owners of Disney stock will vote Wednesday to either confirm Disney’s entire slate of board nominees or give seats to Peltz and former Disney chief finance officer Jay Rasulo.
The board fight has attracted boldfaced names across the business and entertainment industry, including Star Wars creator George Lucas and former Marvel Entertainment chairman Ike Perlmutter. On Monday, Baltimore-based money manager T. Rowe Price — which owns 9.3 million Disney shares — said it would support Disney, joining Lucas, former Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Laurene Powell Jobs.
Despite those heavy-hitters behind Disney, Trian is no slouch; Peltz was outperforming Disney director Maria Elena Lagomasino last week, although Rasulo’s candidacy has floundered. Among Trian’s public backers are Perlmutter, proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), the nation’s largest public pension fund.
Although the proxy battle’s outcome largely hinges on these larger stockholders, as much as 40% of Disney shares are held by individuals. So-called retail investors tend to side with management in proxy contests and many are longtime fans of the company.
“I admire Bob Iger, and I trust him to know what’s right,” Cori Borgstadt, a Disney stockholder since 2008, told The New York Times last week. “So I voted the white slate,” or Disney’s slate. Trian’s slate of directors is blue.
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