op-ed; disagreement with ISS concerning activist investor Nelson Peltz
Fred Allen once described the media business with the quip, “imitation is the sincerest form of….television”. But ISS, The New York Times, and other cheerleaders of Nelson Peltz/Trian Partners’ activist campaign challenging Disney CEO Bob Iger all seem to miss that Iger towers over his media peers in genuine financial performance, in stark contrast to […]
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management, and Steven Tian is Research Director of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute at the Yale School of Management. This post was prepared for the Forum by Professor Sonnenfeld and Mr. Tian. Related research from the Program on Corporate Governance includes The Long-Term Effects of Hedge Fund Activism (discussed on the Forum here) and Dancing with Activists (discussed on the Forum here) both by Lucian A. Bebchuk, Alon Brav, Wei Jiang, and Thomas Keusch and Who Bleeds When the Wolves Bite? A Flesh-and-Blood Perspective on Hedge Fund Activism and Our Strange Corporate Governance System (discussed on the Forum here) by Leo E. Strine, Jr.
Fred Allen once described the media business with the quip, “imitation is the sincerest form of….television”. But ISS, The New York Times, and other cheerleaders of Nelson Peltz/Trian Partners’ activist campaign challenging Disney CEO Bob Iger all seem to miss that Iger towers over his media peers in genuine financial performance, in stark contrast to his underperforming activist challengers. It is a veritable tale of two cities in measuring up the financial track record of Bob Iger against Nelson Peltz.
Of course, the question of both Bob Iger and Nelson Peltz’s financial track records have become a surprisingly contentious area of dispute as the proxy contest nears its grand finale. Both sides have stepped into overdrive, with dozens of glossy 100+ page slide decks and white papers released from all vantage points.
As Disney shareholders begin to cast their ballots on the eve of the Annual Meeting two weeks from now, on April 3rd, it can be hard to separate fact from fiction in comparing the genuine financial track records of Nelson Peltz and Bob Iger. But the factual evidence speaks loud and clear. While Nelson Peltz has a long history of value destruction, Bob Iger’s nearly two decades as Disney CEO has been marked by genuine value creation.
