Who is Nelson Peltz? Billionaire investor feuding with Disney CEO

The war over the seats on Disney’s board of directors has taken an interesting turn, with people split in their opinion of activist investor Nelson Peltz.

The company announced its 12 board nominees in January, which included the current CEO, Bob Iger. Shortly after, Trian Partners, a company with a $3.5 billion stake in Disney, revealed their nominations for a seat: co-founder Nelson Peltz and chief financial officer Jay Rasulo.

The nominations kicked off a proxy fight over the company’s future, culminating on April 3, 2024, at the media giant’s annual shareholders meeting, where investors will cast their votes.

However, some comments by Nelson Peltz have cast doubt among investors on his appropriateness for a seat on the board.

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“Why do I have to have a Marvel that’s all women?” says Disney board aspirant Nelson Peltz

Peltz is a billionaire businessman and investor, and he happens to be a founding partner of Trian Partners, an alternative investment management fund, along with Peter W. May and Edward P. Garden. He is also the non-executive chairman of Wendy's Company, Sysco, and The Madison Square Garden Company.

His Disney aspirations appear to have hit a roadblock after Walt Disney Co. took offense at his criticism of the production company allegedly becoming too dominated by female and Black actors.

In an interview with Financial Times, Nelson Peltz said that the movies made by the company have become too focused on delivering a message and not enough on storytelling. He specifically mentioned The Marvels and Black Panther.

“Why do I have to have a Marvel that’s all women? Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?”

His remarks, which were public after the interview was released on Friday, March 22, have been taken by Disney employees as evidence that he should be nowhere near Disney's board.

A spokesperson reportedly said,

"This is exactly why Nelson Peltz shouldn't be anywhere near a creatively driven company."

Many on the internet have also taken offense at Peltz’s comments, which are being deemed sexist and racist.

In the Financial Times interview, Peltz also mentioned that he questioned the record of Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige. When asked whether it was time for Feige to go, he said,

“I’m not ready to say that, but I question his record.”

The recent interview puts Nelson Peltz on the back foot in the board battle between him and Disney's Bob Iger, who returned as the CEO in November 2022 with a mission to reinvigorate Disney.

Iger’s plans with the company appear to be the antithesis of Peltz’s plan. In his autobiography, The Ride of a Lifetime, Iger says that he has pushed to diversify the Marvel movies, which had been built chiefly around white male characters.

His tactics, arguably, have had some success, with Black Panther becoming the sixth highest-grossing domestic release of all time and the first Marvel film nominated for Best Picture Oscar. The Marvels, too, brought in $206 million worldwide.

On the other hand, Peltz plans on making the company align performance-based compensation with shareholder value and develop a strategy to reach margins similar to Netflix’s 15-20% by 2027. His strategy has been outlined in Trian Partners’ 133-page paper released earlier this month. One of the first points in Nelson Peltz’s plan involves a successful CEO succession.

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While it remains to be seen how the stakeholder's meeting might pan out, there are two factions in this war. Some of the biggest names in business and entertainment have picked sides in this year’s most bitter and closely watched board battles.