Former Marvel boss Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter has given fellow billionaire Nelson Peltz control over his voting shares of The Walt Disney Company — setting the stage for a renewed proxy war with Mouse House boss Bob Iger.
Perlmutter, the billionaire investor who was unceremoniously fired by Disney earlier this year as head of the comic books division, threw his support behind Peltz as the company’s stock remains mired near nine-year lows.
“While I was a Disney employee, I was not comfortable publicly stating my views on the company and its performance,” Perlmutter, who sold Marvel to Disney for $4 billion in 2009 and remains one of the company’s largest independent shareholders, told the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
“As someone with a large economic interest in Disney’s success, I can no longer watch the business underachieve its great potential.”
Perlmutter told The Journal he will use his influence within Disney to push for board seats for Peltz and perhaps other nominees from Trian.
Armed with Perlmutter’s shares, Trian boosted its stake in Disney to 33 million shares worth around $2.5 billion, according to the outlet.
Perlmutter’s approximately 30 million shares make up a majority of Trian’s stake in the company.
With the ex-Marvel boss’ backing, Peltz, who now has four times the amount of shares that he did during his initial proxy fight less than a year ago, will be in a stronger position to push for more seats on Disney’s board of directors when the nominating window opens in December.
The Post has sought comment from Disney.
Disney shares, which hit an all-time high of more than $191 in March 2021, closed at $80.26 on Monday.
Peltz has sought wholesale changes at the company, including spending cuts and chopping executive pay.
He called off his proxy fight when Iger agreed to a $5.5 billion restructuring, which entailed laying off some 7,000 employees.
Perlmutter was axed by Disney earlier this year due to what the former Marvel executive said were disagreements with Iger over how to “help Disney improve its business.”
“I have no doubt that my termination was based on fundamental differences in business between my thinking and Disney leadership, because I care about return on investment,” Perlmutter told The Wall Street Journal this past spring.
Perlmutter and Iger clashed over Disney’s big-budget Marvel superhero movies.
Perlmutter told The Journal that Disney spent too much money producing the films.
“All they talk about is box office, box office,” he told The Journal.
“I care about the bottom line. I don’t care how big the box office is. Only people in Hollywood talk about box office.”
Peltz in recent weeks has lost confidence in Iger’s ability to turn the company’s fortunes around, according to the Journal.