Unsure who to vote for regarding the Walt Disney Co. Board

[Casper Gutman]

It’s not even close to a binary choice

It’s not Bob on the throne or Peltz

What’s needed is succession. Now. Yesterday in fact. How is that best accomplished?

You hate what Peltz represents? Most of us do…

But without some change…now…there will be ANOTHER extension announcement in 2025.
Is the “threat” enough to stop this? Maybe…but this is about the 6th times we’ve seen this play. And it’s neither an ingenious play…or a good one.

Another extension for Iger isn't good, but it's massively preferable to letting Peltz, Perlmutter, and Rasulo get their foot in the door.

I'd also like to ask again of the pro-Peltz brigade... we know Perlmutter's and Rasulo's "creative" track record. What about them makes them figures posters want to see with a lot of power over the direction of the studios and parks?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Another extension for Iger isn't good, but it's massively preferable to letting Peltz, Perlmutter, and Rasulo get their foot in the door.

Two seats. And I don’t even want them. But what would those two seats do? Shutter WDI?…make worse content?…Jack park prices?

I’m not sure there’s any math to make those things any more likely…

And no extensions for Iger can be tolerated any longer now. He is responsible for the chapek disaster. Him. No one else.

That’s “it’s better than” is creating a choice that in no way needs to be made. Not binary.

I'd also like to ask again of the pro-Peltz brigade... we know Perlmutter's and Rasulo's "creative" track record. What about them makes them figures posters want to see with a lot of power over the direction of the studios and parks?

I don’t want Peltz and/rasulo anywhere near the board. But any rejection outright is gonna be taken as a “vote of confidence” for all the status quo…and they need to go too. There is more than one human on earth that can run Disney. It’s laughable it’s being presented otherwise. Every chapter ends.

The succession debaucle is ALL on Iger. Period. He cannot be trusted.



Thats worse…it’s 100% ego and you cant expect that to shut down.

He got his taste of retirement…and he didn’t like it. That’s what the events point to…it’s easy to make that conclusion. He looked bad in doing it. So here we are…revenge tour.

But let’s toss Ike and Nelly aside…
Bob said again that succession is the boards “highest priority”
So DO IT!
Now…then we move on and don’t have two judge the size of the weevils we weigh…what is so hard?

 

[The Mom]

Posters who continue posting personal attacks will no longer be allowed to participate in this thread.

 

[LSLS]

I keep hearing about just 2 seats, but turn it the other way. Why would an 80 year old billionaire and leader of a giant hedge fund want 2 seats if it would not allow him to impact the company and get things he want (i.e. the most short term returns)? I get this being a bit of a rock and a hard place scenario in that Peltz is almost assuredly worse than Iger, and voting him down gives Iger a higher sense of power, but I don't think for a second this is just some small thing that would not impact anything with Disney or especially the parks.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I keep hearing about just 2 seats, but turn it the other way. Why would an 80 year old billionaire and leader of a giant hedge fund want 2 seats if it would not allow him to impact the company and get things he want (i.e. the most short term returns)? I get this being a bit of a rock and a hard place scenario in that Peltz is almost assuredly worse than Iger, and voting him down gives Iger a higher sense of power, but I don't think for a second this is just some small thing that would not impact anything with Disney or especially the parks.

The two seats are a vote of no confidence for Iger.

That’s the practical result. It’s not a powerful “voting block” that can stop any movements or initiate any.

What is the danger? The only one is that other board members will follow them or that something they don’t want the public to know is being protected…

In which case there’s an even bigger problem that will blow up as some point anyway.

 

[mikejs78]

However, if the current leadership has lost its way, it's time to bring in a new slate who can restore Disney to its rightful place as king of the box office.

There's a lot to blame Iger on regarding the current state of Disney - the situation with the networks and ESPN, the current state and attitude towards the parks, etc.. I don't think the box office troubles of the last year are one of them.

Movies take a while to make - Iger became CEO again in late 2022, so most of the 2023 slate was already baked in before he even came back onboard. I don't think he had a ton to do with it. It's hard to salvage a movie once it's that far along, and it becomes a sunk cost. Most of the movies in question were made primarily during the Chapek era, and a lot of it was a product of the Kareem Daniel era. I fail to see what Iger could have done in the year since he's been back to fix the 2023 slate. Now, as we get to mid to late 2024 and 2025, it will be squarly on his shoulders, but for 2023 I'm not sure there is that much he could have realistically done.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

There's a lot to blame Iger on regarding the current state of Disney - the situation with the networks and ESPN, the current state and attitude towards the parks, etc.. I don't think the box office troubles of the last year are one of them.

Movies take a while to make - Iger became CEO again in late 2022, so most of the 2023 slate was already baked in before he even came back onboard. I don't think he had a ton to do with it. It's hard to salvage a movie once it's that far along, and it becomes a sunk cost. Most of the movies in question were made primarily during the Chapek era, and a lot of it was a product of the Kareem Daniel era. I fail to see what Iger could have done in the year since he's been back to fix the 2023 slate. Now, as we get to mid to late 2024 and 2025, it will be squarly on his shoulders, but for 2023 I'm not sure there is that much he could have realistically done.

Everything released last year was in the works/greenlit before Iger “retired”

So its either on him or his apparatus

Truman told us where the buck stops

 

[mikejs78]

Everything released last year was in the works/greenlit before Iger “retired”

So its either on him or his apparatus

Truman told us where the buck stops

Sure, but how much of it was altered/changed by Chapek? Look, Disney had a hugely successful box office run in the 2010s and early 2020s. The last two years have seen a dropoff, which started two years into Chapek's tenure. I think it's only reasonable to see if Iger can return the box office to more successful levels (even if not to prepandemic levels as the market has changed).

Blame him all you want for the other stuff, and I will probably agree with you, but the movies of 2023 are not a reasonable thing to place at his feet.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Sure, but how much of it was altered/changed by Chapek? Look, Disney had a hugely successful box office run in the 2010s and early 2020s. The last two years have seen a dropoff, which started two years into Chapek's tenure. I think it's only reasonable to see if Iger can return the box office to more successful levels (even if not to prepandemic levels as the market has changed).

Blame him all you want for the other stuff, and I will probably agree with you, but the movies of 2023 are not a reasonable thing to place at his feet.

Chapek was left “unsupervised” for about 11 months…and considering the board coup in record time…you do the math

He had some rather smallish operational gaffes…like penny pinching in parks…but wasn’t physically there long enough to change much else. There is really zero evidence he had anything to do with studios. None

 

[Casper Gutman]

I keep hearing about just 2 seats, but turn it the other way. Why would an 80 year old billionaire and leader of a giant hedge fund want 2 seats if it would not allow him to impact the company and get things he want (i.e. the most short term returns)? I get this being a bit of a rock and a hard place scenario in that Peltz is almost assuredly worse than Iger, and voting him down gives Iger a higher sense of power, but I don't think for a second this is just some small thing that would not impact anything with Disney or especially the parks.

Why would this very dangerous brush with a corporate raider leave Iger feeling "empowered?" That doesn't make a lot of sense.

I also ask again - why aren't the Peltz posters campaigning for the Blackwell slate? That would seem to accomplish all their goals and keep Peltz away from the board, something they claim to want.

 

[Brian]

I also ask again - why aren't the Peltz posters campaigning for the Blackwell slate? That would seem to accomplish all their goals and keep Peltz away from the board, something they claim to want.

Blackwells has no realistic shot at getting any board seats. Peltz has run a very public campaign and has laid the groundwork for public awareness, so his campaign at least has a shot.

 

[mikejs78]

Chapek was left “unsupervised” for about 11 months

The reporting has been that he basically shut out Iger pretty early on - and that Iger wasn't as involved as he wanted to be from summer 2020 onwards.

 

[Andrew C]

Blackwells has no realistic shot at getting any board seats.

You may as well vote for yourself.

 

[mikejs78]

Blackwells has no realistic shot at getting any board seats. Peltz has run a very public campaign and has laid the groundwork for public awareness, so his campaign at least has a shot.

At least Blackwell has made concrete proposals. I don't agree with those propsals, but they are concrete. Peltz has waived his hands, made vague statements, and for a big part of what I care about (Parks) he has made no commitments to expansion or investment - only to operating income.

My biggest criticisms:

• What experience does Peltz have to improve the studio content? What are his concrete plans for doing so?
• What experience does Peltz have with streaming and media? What are his concrete plans to making streaming achieve Netflix-level profits?
• How much does he think should be invested in the parks? What types of investments does he think are worthwhile investments to make?

Given the total lack of specifics, lack of experience, and his past track record (as well as the track record of Perlmutter and Rasulo), I can't see supporting him at all. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know.

If he were to provide specific, concrete proposals, I would consider them. But right now it's all hand waving and vague statements with no real plan.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

The reporting has been that he basically shut out Iger pretty early on - and that Iger wasn't as involved as he wanted to be from summer 2020 onwards.

That seems like an awful convenient way to tie up any mistakes around chapek and give Iger and the board an out.

The “story” is always subject to spin.

 

[Lilofan]

At least Blackwell has made concrete proposals. I don't agree with those propsals, but they are concrete. Peltz has waived his hands, made vague statements, and for a big part of what I care about (Parks) he has made no commitments to expansion or investment - only to operating income.

My biggest criticisms:

• What experience does Peltz have to improve the studio content? What are his concrete plans for doing so?
• What experience does Peltz have with streaming and media? What are his concrete plans to making streaming achieve Netflix-level profits?
• How much does he think should be invested in the parks? What types of investments does he think are worthwhile investments to make?

Given the total lack of specifics, lack of experience, and his past track record (as well as the track record of Perlmutter and Rasulo), I can't see supporting him at all. The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know.

If he were to provide specific, concrete proposals, I would consider them. But right now it's all hand waving and vague statements with no real plan.

Blackwell proposing splitting TWDC into 3 companies would be a butchering of current staffing that would result in massive restructuring and layoffs.

 

[Dranth]

That seems like an awful convenient way to tie up any mistakes around chapek and give Iger and the board an out.

The “story” is always subject to spin.

We know Chapek pushed things through Iger did not want so I don't think it is remotely fair to claim Chapek was some helpless pawn. Daniels and the restructuring does not happen if Iger is calling the shots and that was in 2020 despite Iger being on the board.

Now, how much of the theatrical mess is Chapek vs. Iger? We will likely never know but my guess is both as there is a nearly zero percent chance Chapek didn't have a major impact on the people and processes with all the changes he made.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We know Chapek pushed things through Iger did not want so I don't think it is remotely fair to claim Chapek was some helpless pawn. Daniels and the restructuring does not happen if Iger is calling the shots and that was in 2020 despite Iger being on the board.

Now, how much of the theatrical mess is Chapek vs. Iger? We will likely never know but my guess is both as there is a nearly zero percent chance Chapek didn't have a major impact on the people and processes with all the changes he made.

Based on their painfully slow production process…there wasn’t a lot of time for Bob to “stamp” much

And yes…Chapek did some dumb things. He had no media savvy…and made some really stupid penny pinchers like parking fees and magical express…
But some of the things he “pushed through” are there because they were in the hopper prior.
Genie didn’t land in 6 months…the ground work goes back to Bob.

 

[mikejs78]

Based on their painfully slow production process…there wasn’t a lot of time for Bob to “stamp” much

And yes…Chapek did some dumb things. He had no media savvy…and made some really stupid penny pinchers like parking fees and magical express…
But some of the things he “pushed through” are there because they were in the hopper prior.
Genie didn’t land in 6 months…the ground work goes back to Bob.

I agree - on the parks, with Genie+, etc., a lot of the current direction is the result of Iger's previous policies, even if now he is having some second thoughts about them. My only comment is in regards to the studios, as it's hard to know if Iger or Chapek are more responsible for the 2023 slate.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

I agree - on the parks, with Genie+, etc., a lot of the current direction is the result of Iger's previous policies, even if now he is having some second thoughts about them. My only comment is in regards to the studios, as it's hard to know if Iger or Chapek are more responsible for the 2023 slate.

Well…since we had a two bombed marvels…a bombed LFL…a bombed feature animation…a bombed parks movie and two underwhelming Pixar and live action remakes…

It falls in a pattern predating chapek