Bob Iger Is A “Once-In-A-Generation Leader” Laurene Powell Jobs Says In Steely Rebuke To Proxy Advisory Firm Advice That Nelson Peltz Join Disney Board – Update
deadline.com(Updated with Laurene Powell Jobs statement) The fight for the future of the Walt Disney Company got very fast and furious this morning.
Just minutes after influential proxy advisory board Institutional Shareholder Services recommended adding activist investor Nelson Peltz to the Disney board, the chairman struck back with a blunt dismissal.
Rolling out the really heavy artillery, that first response was soon followed by a strong shutdown of the Peltz uprising by the widow of Apple kingpin Steve Jobs. “While we’re heartened to see support for Michael Froman and ISS’ recommendation to withhold on dissident directors Jay Rasulo and the Blackwells’ nominees, we strongly believe that ISS reached the wrong conclusion in its recent report when it comes to adding Nelson Peltz to the board,” Disney board boss Mark Parker said Thursday as an increasingly bitter April 3 vote by shareholders looms. “In contrast to Glass Lewis, ISS fails to acknowledge the breadth of perspective and expertise Ms.
Lagomasino adds to the Board,” Parker added. Glass Lewis is another influential proxy advisory firm that came out in last week in favor of all Disney nominees “The strong recent performance and results overseen by the Disney Board demonstrate our focus on long-term shareholder value creation and succession planning an our commitment to good governance practices” As Disney’s succession plans once again became the core of the board dispute, one of the largest and most influential single shareholders in Disney added her voice to the proxy dust-up today, clearly in a move to shut ISS down.
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