Walt Disney Co.

In a statement issued this morning, Lucas said: “Creating magic is not for amateurs. When I sold Lucasfilm just over a decade ago. I was delighted to become a Disney shareholder because of my long-time admiration for its iconic brand and Bob Iger’s leadership. When Bob recently returned to the company during a difficult time, I was relieved. No one knows Disney better. I remain a significant shareholder because I have full faith and confidence in the power of Disney and Bob’s track record of driving long-term value. I have voted all of my shares for Disney’s 12 directors and urge other shareholders to do the same.”

Proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis has recommended that Disney shareholders withhold votes for all board candidates except the company’s own. A thumbs up from the influential firm, which advise stockholders how they should vote on various matters at annual meetings, is a significant win for Disney as institutional investors take the recommendations of these firms quite seriously an have been waiting to see how they would line up. Another large advisory firm, ISS, hasn’t yet put out its report.

Walt Disney Co.’s board is focusing on four divisional heads as part of a formal search for an eventual successor to Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, people with knowledge of the matter said. The four are TV chief Dana Walden, ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro, theme-parks boss Josh D’Amaro and Alan Bergman, who heads the film business, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private conversations.

The Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger said the proxy battle mounted by activist investors is a “distraction” for him and senior managers as they try to make a complex company more profitable. “We’re at this hard every day, and when you go from fixing [the company], which was significant and heavy lifting, to really creating meaningful growth for our shareholders, the only way to achieve that is by focus and this campaign is in a way to distract us, to take our eye off all those balls,” Iger said, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology Media and Telecom Conference on Tuesday.

Two activist hedge funds — Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management and the smaller Blackwells Capital — are separately going toe-to-toe with Disney to gain spots on its board and challenge the strategy of CEO Bob Iger. All in, the three parties could spend north of $70 million ahead of an April 3 shareholder vote. They are already shelling out for slick marketing materials, social-media blitzes and the services of proxy solicitors — akin to campaign strategists — who wrangle shareholder support for their clients’ board candidates.

The billionaire’s willingness to pay legal bills for people who want to sue Disney is the latest foray against the company and CEO Bob Iger.

The lawsuit Carano filed with help from X, formerly Twitter, in federal court in California alleges her wrongful termination from the Star Wars galaxy Disney+ streaming series after two seasons over a post likening the treatment of American conservatives to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

While Disney is responding to an activist investor fight from Nelson Peltz and his Trian Partners, it also fending off another push for board seats from a smaller activist firm: Blackwells Capital, run by Jason Aintabi. Blackwells filed its proxy statement Tuesday, and also included a whitepaper proposing some ideas to “transform” the company.

Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners has said it would ask shareholders to withhold their votes for current board members Michael B.G. Froman and Maria Elena Lagomasino.

“This is an important case with serious implications for the rule of law, and it will not end here,” a studio spokesperson says.

Activist investor Nelson Peltz believes Walt Disney can achieve profitability in streaming by bundling its ESPN+ online service with a larger player interested in sports, such as Netflix.

Walt Disney Co. and the National Football League are said to be in earnest talks, according to two people familiar with the matter, that could have the league take a stake in ESPN while putting its NFL Media unit, which the sports body has been trying to monetize in better fashion, under the media company’s control. Such a move would further align Disney with the NFL, making it difficult for the company to lose valuable sports rights to show top-rated football games, and could put such NFL assets as the NFL Network and RedZone under Disney’s aegis.

Walt Disney’s Pixar Animation Studios is set to cut jobs as the studio has completed production on some shows and now has more staff than it needs, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Thursday. TechCrunch reported earlier that Pixar was set to undergo layoffs as high as 20% this year, with the studio’s team of 1,300 people reduced to under 1,000 over the coming months.

The plaintiff, suing as a Jane Doe, claims she was assaulted by former VP of Distribution Nolan Gonzales and that management refused to escalate concerns to human resources despite complaints from other women.

Activist hedge fund Blackwells Capital will nominate three directors at Walt Disney Co., rivaling Trian Fund Management which is seeking two seats on the entertainment giant’s board, people familiar with the matter say. While board challenges typically represent attempts to change a company’s strategy, Blackwells is supportive of Disney CEO Bob Iger’s work, the sources say.

The entertainment giant has real issues, and now the CEO has to deal with the Greek chorus of Ron DeSantis, Nelson Peltz and Elon Musk at the same time.

Walt Disney Co. is suddenly teeming with former executives. A number have returned or are angling to come back — from retired CEO Bob Iger, who resumed his duties a year ago, to former finance chief Jay Rasulo, who is seeking a board seat as part of a dissident investor group led by billionaire Nelson Peltz.

Advertisers have eyed the Disney+ streaming hub as a place where they might tuck a promotional message alongside the binge-watch of a Marvel series, or, potentially Phineas & Ferb. Soon, however, Madison Avenue may have some other opportunities to consider. Disney is mulling the launch of shopping and gaming experiences on the streaming outlet, with which advertisers could get involved, according to Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising Sales.

Disney says a “personal agenda” against Bob Iger by ousted exec Ike Perlmutter is fueling an activist investor’s new attempt to reshape the company’s board and grab more seats.

The value of Comcast’s 33% stake in Hulu is expected to go well beyond that figure following an appraisal process for the popular streaming service.

Disney will pay shareholders $0.30 per share, after suspending the dividend amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Walt Disney Co. defended its record as activist investor Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management is teaming up with former Disney executive Isaac Perlmutter to mount a potential proxy fight. Trian said it owns $3 billion worth of Disney stock and talked on Thursday with Disney CEO Bob Iger. Trian said Disney’s board was willing to meet, but turned down a request to put Peltz, Trian’s founder and CEO, on the board.

Disney CEO Bob Iger focused on instilling employees with renewed optimism about the Mouse House’s “blessed” and “fortunate” state during a virtual company-wide town hall Tuesday, rather than making any proclamations about the company’s future. The event, moderated by ABC News’ David Muir, was held just over a week after the one-year anniversary of Iger’s return to the helm at Disney.

A year into the run of Bob Iger 2: Return of the CEO, the Walt Disney Co. has not yet rediscovered its mojo. For most of Iger’s initial 14-year stint in the corner office, Disney was the pace-setter in media and entertainment, pulling off stunning M&A deals and amassing a sizable competitive advantage. Now, the company has fallen back to the pack as a Biblical series of challenges have come to define a centennial year that many staffers would just as soon forget than commemorate. On Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. PT, Iger and a handful of top executives will convene a town hall for employees and there should be no shortage of questions on the minds of those listening to management frame the current circumstances.

The company has a hangover from its big streaming push. The stock has struggled, investors are restive and its key studios have been stretched.

Walt Disney Co. will air a commercial on TV and online to promote its importance to Florida, the latest move in a battle with the governor and legislators that’s gone on for more than a year. The company, which owns the 25,000-acre Walt Disney World resort outside of Orlando, released an economic impact study Tuesday saying that it accounts for one out every 32 jobs in Florida, with 263,000 people either working for Disney or connected to it in some fashion. Some 82,000 are employed directly by the company in the state.

Until 2024’s political windfall machine can kick in, TV groups have been leaning into revenue opportunities from sports rights and streaming prospects like FAST channels, where the breakeven mark is getting closer.

As part of broad review, the entertainment company has reignited discussions about adding some channels to its venture with Hearst. Pictured: ABC, which airs hits such as The Golden Bachelor, has been identified as one of Disney’s most valued channels.

CEO Robert Iger: Fiscal “Q4 adjusted earnings per share nearly tripled over the prior year, and all three of our businesses — entertainment, experiences and sports — saw significant increases in fourth quarter operating income compared to Q4 of fiscal ’22.

Disney opened a new corporate era with a mixed-to-positive batch of quarterly results, reporting better-than-expected revenue and earnings but also more than $1 billion in charges. The media giant had total revenue of $21.2 billion in the fiscal first quarter, up 5% from the same period a year ago, and earnings per share of 82 cents. The earnings more than doubled from the prior-year mark of 30 cents, and the top- and bottom-line numbers beat Wall Street analysts’ forecasts. Streaming paced the quarter, with Disney+ having its best performance in several quarters.

Company boards tend to want to stay out of the spotlight. Activist investor Nelson Peltz may be intent on making sure Disney directors don’t get that luxury. Peltz’s Trian Fund Management has acquired about $2.5 billion of Disney shares and will be paying close attention to Disney’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report after the bell Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter. The majority of the shares controlled by Trian belong to Ike Perlmutter, the former boss of Marvel Entertainment and a Peltz ally who has clashed with Disney CEO Bob Iger in the past.