Proxy-Advisory Firm ISS Recommends Disney Shareholders Elect Nelson Peltz to Board
variety.comTodd Spangler NY Digital Editor Disney was handed a setback in its boardroom fight with activist investor Nelson Peltz after proxy-advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services recommended that shareholders vote him onto the Mouse House’s board.
ISS, whose recommendations are influential among institutional investors, cited Disney’s “failed” succession planning in the CEO role in its report backing Peltz, whose Trian Partners.
In November 2022, Bob Iger returned as chief executive of the media conglomerate after the ouster of Bob Chapek, formerly head of Disney’s parks division, whom Iger had hand-picked to succeed him in February 2020. “Dissident nominee Peltz, as a significant shareholder, could be additive to the succession process, providing assurance to other investors that the board is properly engaged this time around,” ISS said in the report Thursday.
While some investors “have likely drawn comfort from Iger’s return,” ISS said in the report, “given the major missteps and severe consequences of the failed 2020 succession, particularly for a company that already had a history of succession drama, it may be difficult for others to simply trust that the board, albeit refreshed, will get it right this time.
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