Why Jamie Dimon, Elon Musk, and Bill Ackman took sides in the Disney-Peltz proxy battle
Disney, the entertainment industry's most iconic storyteller, just survived its own saga with activist investor Nelson Peltz. One aspect of the fight that stood out was its cast of characters.
In what might bring to mind interconnected movie sequels, or standard reality TV fare, the dispute brought out allies and foes, old and new. Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk threw his support behind the dissenting party, as did hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, a veteran of proxy battles. Meanwhile, JPMorgan (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, himself the target of a shareholder campaign a decade ago, backed Iger and the incumbents.
"Disney is one of the best-known consumer brands. And it's been that way for decades," said David Kass, a professor of finance at the University of Maryland. That millions of customers are impacted by its moves builds a natural audience for its corporate developments, he said.
Not since Exxon's (XOM) surprising defeat to an activist investor in 2021 has a boardroom brawl attracted so much interest. A crucial factor driving attention was that the proxy battle actually went to a shareholder vote, which doesn’t happen often. Companies and activists usually settle in advance to avoid costly campaigns and the potential reputational blow of a loss.
But beyond that, Disney’s position as an iconic brand with a well-known, polarizing figure at its helm —CEO Bob Iger — is what drew outsized attention and unexpected personalities into this drama.
"When everyone might have a different view it can strike more popular interest," said Jun Frank, managing director and global head of compensation and governance advisory at ISS-Corporate, which is distinct from the part of ISS that instructed shareholders to side with Peltz in the proxy fight. "If people have an emotional association with a company, that can lead some to have their own personal stake."
For some, the emotional association was more direct than for others. Musk appeared to extend his vendetta against Iger after lashing out at him for pausing Disney's ad spending on X last year.
In a widely covered interview at the New York Times (NYT) DealBook conference in November, Musk went after the Disney CEO specifically and slung an expletive at companies who pulled their advertising from his platform. Musk has since used X to attack Iger and Disney, including calling for Iger’s ouster.
A vocal opponent of diversity initiatives, Musk has also attempted to disparage Disney around culture war issues. "Excited to join @Disney as their Chief DEI Officer. Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger & Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke!" he joked earlier this week, on April Fools’ day, referring to Disney's head of LucasFilm.
Ackman joined the fray with his own gripe tying back to his history of proxy fights. In a post on X, he said Peltz would be "greatly additive" to the Disney board. He also called for the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate supposed leaks to the press about the early vote results, which he contends worked in Disney's favor.
In the same post, Ackman alleged that in his 2017 contest with ADP, in which he failed to shake up the board, the company or its advisers leaked the early vote count to the media. For Ackman, the "dirty tricks" that damaged his activist campaign were also deployed against Peltz.