The drama over who will join Disney’s board and who will be voted out is heating up. Already activist investor Nelson Peltz has begun to tip his hand after being one of two people selected by Trian Management to land seats on the Walt Disney Company board.
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Trian is asking shareholders to withhold votes from Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman and instead vote for Peltz and former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo.
Nelson Peltz and Trian Management Make Moves To Land Two Seats On the Walt Disney Company Board
It’s been a year since Peltz’s desire to join the Disney board became public, and ahead of this year’s voting, the billionaire is employing any means necessary to ensure he does not miss out.
In a SEC filing today, Trian said that Froman “has no experience as a public company director outside of Disney and has spent most of the past 25 years of his career in fields which appear largely unrelated to Disney’s businesses: working as a federal trade representative, a national security advisor, and a financial executive.”
Froman, a top Mastercard executive, has been on the board since 2018. “Given his broad experience and extraordinary career spanning both the public and private sectors, Mike brings a unique perspective that will be extremely valuable as we continue to build the future of Disney,” CEO Bob Iger said at the time.
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This is not the first time that Trian has openly targeted Froman’s seat, as they made the same move to oust him the previous year.
In regards to Lagomasino, the Peltz group argued that her “background in wealth management also appears largely unrelated to Disney’s businesses.”
The filing went on to attack Lagomasino’s time as a board member.
“Furthermore, as a member of Disney’s Compensation Committee since 2015 and its Chair since 2019, Ms. Lagomasino has overseen a number of misaligned compensation practices, including the award of a massive compensation package to Mr. Iger in connection with the acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox, and more recently, the approval of a fiscal year 2023 compensation program that we believe fails to align the compensation of Disney executives with the Company’s financial and operational performance.”
“She also has a track record of overseeing problematic compensation practices at other companies where she has served on the compensation committee, including as chair,” they added.
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Lagomasino has served as a Disney board member since 2015. At the time she joined the board, she was the CEO and managing partner of WE Family Offices. She has also previously worked at JP Morgan, Chase, and Citi.
A few days ago, Disney advised shareholders not to vote for Peltz and Rasulo in order not to create a conflict of interest within the company.
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