WBD - Disney: It's A War Over The Board
2024-03-07 18:35:23 ET
Summary
- Disney is facing a board fight, but CEO Bob Iger has a strong track record.
- Activists often prioritize short-term profits over long-term goals, which may not be beneficial for long-term shareholders.
- Finding knowledgeable board members for a large and diverse company like Disney is challenging, and there's currently a lack of suitable candidates by the activists.
- The board needs to back Bob Iger instead of "questioning his every move" without industry experience.
- The activists use conclusion phrases like "poorly managed" that beg the question "compared to what?"
Disney ( DIS ) is now engaging in a board fight similar to what some of us remember from the late 1980s. The difference this time is that the CEO in place, Bob Iger, is a far stronger personality with a darn good record (by all accounts) of running the company. What's unlikely to get resolved is successor issues. But what needs to be dealt with now is a unified board that knows the business. None of the proposed nominees fit the bill of "knowing the business" I learned the hard way in my corporate experience that very few can "walk in the door" and turn a business around. Instead, it often takes a long time to learn each part of the business (and this company has a lot of parts). That probably fits Bob Iger to a "T" But he needs the backing of the board to get the job done. Right now, he has that. Investors need to make sure it stays that way.
No sooner had Bob Iger, CEO, returned to running the company than all kinds of personalities came "out of the woodwork" with proposals and people to fix Disney. Those of us who remember the 1980s can remember when Saul Steinberg made a similar move only to be beaten by the Bass Brothers who were a part of the group that hired Michael Eisner (among other things) that led to a renaissance of the company. Things were even more acrimonious back then. But Michael Eisner went on to have an unmatched career at Disney....
Disney: It's A War Over The Board