George Lucas Sides With Bob Iger And Disney's Board Of Directors In Proxy Fight

TV & Film

Mar 20

Image Source: WPTV

George Lucas is still happy that he sold Lucasfilm to Disney. He sold Lucasfilm back in 2012 and also became Disney’s largest individual shareholder of the company. He recently has come out in support of Disney and CEO Bob Iger, about rejecting a bid by two investor groups, to acquire a seat on the board.

A shareholder meeting, set to be held on April 3rd, will have investors vote on rival candidate slates. It will be Disney’s 12-member lineup, Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners own nominees ( Peltz, and ex-Disney CFO Jay Rasulo), or three candidates from investment firm Blackwells Captial. Peltz has argued that Disney stock has underperformed recently and must adopt new measures to maintain growth.

RELATED:

Featured

Why The Star Wars Franchise Is Still Strong

Lucas has said that “creating magic is not for amateurs”, which could be in response to Peltz’s comment where he admitted that he has “no media experience”. Others have come out in support of Disney, with Glass Lewis, an independent proxy voting firm advising Disney shareholders to vote in favor of the Disney 12 director nominees.

Disney has come out and said it is against the candidates that Trian and Blackwells nominate, as they lack the experience that comes with a media company. They have also released a statement, urging shareholders to vote for their nominees. Disney also had a rebuttal to Peltz, where they said his “quest seems to be more about vanity than his belief in Disney”. Train Partners controls some $3.5 billion worth of Disney Stock. 75% of it is owned by ex-Marvel Entertainment chairman, Ike Perlmutter, whom Disney has accused of holding a grudge against current Disney CEO, Bob Iger.

READ NEXT:

Featured