Filmmaker George Lucas backs Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger in bitter proxy battle with activist investor Nelson Peltz and hedge fund Blackwells Capital did.
Lucas, who received 37.1 million shares of Disney stock as part of the company’s $4.05 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm Studios in 2012, is now the company’s largest individual investor. According to CNBCsaid, citing multiple sources.
“I have full confidence in the power of Disney and Bob’s track record of driving long-term value, and I will continue to be a significant shareholder. , we encourage other shareholders to do the same,” Lucas said in a statement seen by Reuters.
The film director best known for creating the “Star Wars” series makes the statement a day after Disney received critical backing from proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis, prompting shareholders to re-elect all of the company’s directors. I urged him to do so.
Lucas’ relationship with Disney’s chief executive goes back to Iger’s time running ABC Entertainment, when Iger greenlit the network television series “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.”
The show began in 1992 with a large audience, but its audience dwindled over time and was canceled after the second season, Iger wrote in his autobiography, The Ride of a Lifetime.
Mr. Iger wrote that he was able to build that relationship and approach Mr. Lucas about selling the company.
“Creating magic is not an amateur’s job. When I sold Lucasfilm just over a decade ago, I was excited to become a shareholder in Disney because of my long-standing admiration for its iconic brand and Bob Iger’s leadership. “I thought so,” Lucas said in a statement of support Tuesday. “I was relieved when Bob returned to the company during a difficult time. No one knows Disney better than anyone else.”
Iger returned to Disney in November 2022 after CEO Bob Chapek’s short and tumultuous tenure.
Disney and Iger are backed by celebrities who are well known to individual investors.
The grandchildren of Disney founders Roy and Walt Disney publicly supported Iger and the board last month, calling the activist investors “wolves in sheep’s clothing” trying to tear the company apart. . ”
Mr. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management had argued that Disney was slow to adapt to the changes in streaming, failed to plan its succession, created a “leadership vacuum” and lost its creative spark.
Blackwells is asking the company to improve its use of technology and consider separating parks and real estate.
