Disney's (DIS) annual shareholder meeting, which will decide Disney's board membership, will take place on April 3. The vote has attracted media attention as activist Nelson Peltz has questioned Disney's current leadership and seeks to embed his views in the company.
Former chairman and CEO of Medtronic Bill George joins Yahoo Finance to discuss the Disney board vote on Wednesday and how the company may operate after the vote.
Getting down to the point, George predicts: "I think that Disney will eek out a narrow victory over Peltz and Peltz can go away like he did on PepsiCo (PEP) and a few others, he can go back and find someone else to go after. At least that's what I hope will come out because I think it's the best thing for Disney. This company deserves a very great long-term future."
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- The shareholder vote on the company's board is coming up on Wednesday in the proxy battle between the company and activist investor, Nelson Peltz, is entering its final stretch here. Peltz now garnering support from CalPERS and Neuberger Berman ahead of that meeting.
For more, we're now bringing in Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic. Bill, it is always good to have you on the show. And maybe, we'll start there, Bill. I want your take on just some of the big names who are coming out, Bill, in favor of Mr. Nelson Peltz. So we can talk about CalPERS or ISS. What do you make of that, Bill? Are you surprised by that?
BILL GEORGE: I'm disappointed by it. I think they're looking for short-term gains and they think somehow Peltz is going to come in and cut a lot of costs, but it'll leave Disney in the lurch. This has been a very costly distracting battle.
And by the way, Iger and Disney board have lined up a lot of strong supporters. People like George Lucas and Glass Lewis, and others who have supported them, Jamie Dimon, of course, JP Morgan. So I think in the end, it's going to be a very close battle.
But the point is, Iger has got a big job to do at Disney, and it's taking him away from getting the job done because Chapek left the company on a mess.
- But was Iger-- hey, Bill, it's Julie here-- but was Iger also getting a little complacent, a little arrogant, dare I say? I mean, was there any utility even if Peltz doesn't succeed. Was there any utility in getting-- yes, I see the argument that it's a distraction. But is it also cause him to focus.
BILL GEORGE: Well, it's caused him to accelerate, I think. That's for sure. And it's a big job. And he's still got a lot of big issues he's facing. He had to get the situation right with Governor DeSantis and stop that war, he's still got the Disney Plus streaming. How fast can they convert from cable to streaming? There's no resolution yet of ESPN and ABC. I anticipate, eventually, they'll want to spin those off.
But the key is, that no one ever talks about is, Chapek centralized all the creativity and now Bob is decentralizing and getting it back to the people, and that's the only way to run a complex enterprise like this. So there's a lot of work left to be done. And then not to mention the fact by 2026, he's got to have a successor. So he's got a couple of years of breathing room there but that's not been a good course for a long time for Iger and the board.
- And Bill, you're touching right there on a central point here, which is this issue of succession. And, I mean, you've seen Bill how the fans of Nelson Peltz in part, that's what they're saying. They're fans of Nelson Peltz because they think he's going to join the board, Bill and, he's going to force the board to, this time, actually get it right.
Well, I don't know. I would think he'd-- like Unilever, he got in the wrong successor. He got in a very short term person. And yeah, he'll get somebody they'll cut a lot of heads and do things like that.
But Disney-- this is an iconic company. It's a classic global company they've gone for American. And by the way, it's a very strong board. And Iger is taking steps to beef up the board with the former head of Sky, so Jeremy Bdalak, and Lululemon and brought in some-- they were they have a very strong board.
Mary Barra, Safra Catz, you aren't going to find many stronger boards. They don't need Nelson Peltz tell them what to do. They know what to do. Mark Parker has done an excellent job as chair so they don't need pals to get things going. They know that the pressure is on them. They know they failed with succession the last time around, and they know they'll have to get it right. But it's the boards who, on the right get that right that's not Peltz to do that.
- Bill, out of curiosity, do you hold Disney shares Yourself
BILL GEORGE: No. I don't hold any shares like that, so I can talk objectively if people like you. And when I teach at Harvard, I don't have a bias. So no, I don't hold any shares,.
- Well, that's helpful for us.
BILL GEORGE: I might. I would. But for the long term, it's a great company. And I'm glad Iger is back. Bob did a fantastic job. He's one of the great CEOs of the last what 16, 18 years now. But the succession thing, he's a hard guy to replace too.
- Bill, I'll get you out of here. In his bottom line, what do you think is going to happen to this shareholder meeting?
BILL GEORGE: I think that Disney will eke out a narrow victory over Peltz, and Peltz can go away like he did on PepsiCo and a few others. That he can go back and find someone else to go after. At least I hope it'll come out because I think it's the best thing for the long term for long term producing this. A company that deserves a very great long term future.
- Bill, always love having you on the show. Thanks so much for joining us.
