Re-casts paragraph 1, 2 to add Disney shareholder meeting vote; adds latest events
Apr 3 (Reuters) - Walt Disney DIS.N shareholders have backed Chief Executive Bob Iger and other company directors, ending a multimillion-dollar mud-slinging battle launched by activist investors Trian Fund Management and Blackwells Capital.
The vote to re-elect all 12 of Disney's current board members , announced at the company's annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, defeated the campaign by the investors who argued the entertainment conglomerate had underperformed in the streaming-television era.
Here are the key events in the boardroom saga:
Date |
Event |
Oct. 7, 2020 |
Activist investor Daniel Loeb urges Disney to forgo paying a dividend and use the cash to make and buy more programming for Disney+ |
Oct. 12, 2020 |
Disney restructures its media and entertainment businesses to accelerate Disney+ growth |
May 16, 2022 |
Third Point liquidates its position in Disney during the first quarter, two years after the hedge fund first invested and began urging the media company to spend more aggressively on its streaming platform |
Aug. 15, 2022 |
Third Point discloses a stake of roughly $1 billion and says it plans to push the media company to make a string of changes |
Sept. 11, 2022 |
Third Point's Daniel Loeb backs off from pushing Disney to spin off ESPN |
Sept. 30, 2022 |
Disney announces a truce with activist investor Third Point, saying it will appoint tech and media veteran Carolyn Everson to the board |
Nov. 8, 2022 |
Disney reports higher streaming customers, but high costs disappoint investors |
Nov. 21, 2022 |
Bob Iger returns to Disney as chief executive less than a year after he retired, in a surprise comeback |
Nov. 28, 2022 |
Iger says one of his top priorities was to make the company's streaming business profitable |
Dec. 8, 2022 |
The ad-supported version of the Disney+ service launches, attracting major advertisers from different sectors |
Jan. 12, 2023 |
Activist investor Nelson Peltz formally launches a battle for a board seat at Disney |
Jan. 17, 2023 |
In a letter to shareholders, Disney defends its board for denying Peltz a seat, saying he "lacks the skills and experience" to help the company |
Feb. 8, 2023 |
Disney announces restructuring; cuts 7,000 jobs as part of its efforts to save $5.5 billion in costs and make its streaming business profitable |
Feb. 9, 2023 |
Peltz declares that his proxy fight is over |
May 15, 2023 |
Trian adds to its stake in Disney by purchasing roughly 500,000 more shares since the end of March, giving it a total of 6.4 million |
Nov. 15, 2023 |
ValueAct builds a large stake in Disney and sees room for the entertainment giant's stock price to roughly double, sources familiar with the investment firm's thinking said. |
Nov. 30, 2023 |
Peltz pushes ahead with plans to seek at least three board seats at Disney as Trian is satisfied with Iger's changes, several people familiar with the matter say |
Dec 14, 2023 |
Disney braces for a bitter proxy battle as Peltz himself and former Disney Chief Financial Officer James "Jay" Rasulo to the company's board |
Jan. 3, 2024 |
ValueAct and Blackwells move to provide backing to Disney as it defends itself against a board challenge from activist investor Trian Fund Management. |
Jan. 16, 2024 |
Disney says it "does endorse" the candidates by activist shareholders in a preliminary proxy filed with Securities and Exchange Commission. |
Jan. 31, 2024 |
Trian urges Disney shareholders to re-elect two sitting board directors Maria Elena Lagomasino and Michael Froman. |
Feb. 1, 2024 |
Disney sets the shareholder meeting for April 3 |
Feb. 6, 2024 |
Blackwells urges Disney shareholders to elect its three board candidates, and suggests strategic options including a potential separation of the company into three entities that could eventually become standalone public companies. |
Feb. 7, 2024 |
Disney announces $1.5 billion stake in Epic Games, plans to launch an ESPN streaming service in 2025 and a $3 billion share repurchase plan. |
Feb. 28, 2024 |
Disney and Reliance Industries RELI.NS announce $8.5 billion merger of media assets in India. |
Feb. 29, 2024 |
Grandchildren of Roy and Walt Disney, founders of Disney, back CEO Iger and the board, opposing activist investors in the proxy fight. |
Mar. 4, 2024 |
Trian's Peltz blames "poor oversight" from Disney board for the company's issues, argues Disney was slow to adapt to industry changes including streaming, made errors in its acquisition strategy and bungled succession planning. |
Mar. 19, 2024 |
Filmmaker George Lucas backs Disney CEO Iger in the proxy battle |
Mar. 21, 2024 |
Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) recommends shareholders vote to elect Peltz. |
Mar. 28, 2024 |
Blackwells sues Disney in a Delaware court for information it says may point to possible disclosure violations in dealings with hedge fund ValueAct Capital. |
Mar. 29, 2024 |
U.S. pension fund California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) votes to elect Trian's two director candidates to Disney board. |
Apr. 1, 2024 |
Mutual fund firm and Disney investor T. Rowe Price says it has voted for the entertainment giant's directors; BlackRock also backs Disney board, sources tell Reuters. |
Apr. 2, 2024 |
Vanguard Group, Disney's largest shareholder votes to elect the entertainment giant's incumbent directors, according to Reuters sources |
Apr. 3, 2024 |
Disney shareholders back CEO Iger and other company directors at annual shareholder meeting |
(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik, Harshita Mary Varghese, Akash Sriram and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Pooja Desai, Shounak Dasgupta and Alan Barona)
((Akash.Sriram@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/hoodieonveshti))