Disney, Trian and Blackwell To Spend An Estimated $70 Million on Proxy Battle

The Walt Disney Company faces a proxy battle from “activist investor” firms Trian Partners and Blackwell Capital for two or three board seats. The battle is so heated that Business Insider estimates a $70 million spend for these groups to try and save or obtain board seats. It is now the most expensive proxy battle ever. 

That is a staggering amount of money that should underscore the importance of the current battle with the Walt Disney Company. At the end of it, even if a couple of board seats are gained, there are only two voices among many, including Disney CEO Bob Iger, who also holds a board seat. 

Trian and Nelson Peltz put up a website and Disney also followed suit with a site of their own. Disney has been spending a lot of money running advertisements on social media, blogs, streaming channels, etc, urging people to vote for them. 

It is estimated that individuals rather than investment groups own a large amount of Disney stock. About 40% of the Walt Disney Company’s shares are owned by these investors. So Disney, Trian, and Blackwell Capital are trying to sway these individuals to their side.

Again, it’s just two seats. But it matters so much that these groups and Disney will spend around $70 million to create sites, advertise, personally try to win over large shareholders and investment groups, etc.

Interestingly enough, this is one of the first times that a Universal Proxy Card has been used for voting. Instead of just voting for an entire slate by a proxy card representing one side, now shareholders can vote on candidates and issues individually. They can choose to side with one party for one seat and not for another. 

Overall, this entire process is going to be interesting. But the cost has been staggering. I hope we don’t get more price hikes with Disney to offset their spending on this.

What do you think? Comment and let us know!