(Reuters) -Activist investor Nelson Peltz is seeking two board seats at Disney, his fund said on Thursday, less than a year after abandoning an earlier bid as the media conglomerate outlined plans that addressed his criticism.
While Peltz is one of the candidate nominated, former Chief Finiancial Officer of Disney James Rasulo is the other nominee, Trian Fund Management said.
Trian owns roughly $3 billion worth of Disney stock and ranks among the industry’s oldest and most respected corporate agitators.
The fund had said last month that during a conversation with CEO Bob Iger, Disney extended an offer for Trian to meet with the company’s board but rejected the request for seats on a board that will soon have 12 members.
Peltz had launched a battle for a board seat at Disney in January this year to rescue the entertainment giant from what he called a “crisis” of overspending on the streaming business, a little after Iger returned from retirement to become the CEO in a surprise comeback.
The activist investor ended his quest about a month later after Iger laid out plans to restructure and cut costs.
Over the past 12 months, Disney has restructured the company and significantly reduced costs. It told investors last month it is on track to achieve about $7.5 billion in cost savings – $2 billion more than its original target.
Disney has also said it would work to make its streaming business profitable, build ESPN into the “pre-eminent” digital sports brand, improve the performance of its film studios and “turbocharge” growth at its theme parks, through $60 billion in investment over the next decade.
Trian said that since it gave Disney the time “to prove it could right the ship” in February, up to its re-engagement weeks ago, shareholders lost about $70 billion of value.
Disney had announced the appointment of James Gorman, chairman and chief executive of Morgan Stanley, and Jeremy Darroch, a veteran media executive and former group chief executive of Sky, as new directors last month.
(Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam and Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
