RinoCdZ/iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
Activist investor Nelson Peltz’s proxy fight with Walt Disney (NYSE:DIS) is being bolstered by billionaire ex-Marvel Studios Chairman Isaac Perlmutter.
Peltz’s Trian Fund was previously reported to have accumulated a stake of more than $2.5 billion in Disney and is looking to add several board seats.
Trian’s holdings total about 33 million shares, including stock the firm holds under an arrangement that gives Peltz’s firm sole voting power over Perlmutter’s shares, according to a WSJ report on Monday, which cited people familiar with the matter.
With Perlmutter’s shares, Trian now has about four times as many shares to vote than the firm had during its first campaign with Disney, where it was also looking to add board seats before it decided to withdraw the campaign after CEO Bob Iger returned as Disney’s top dog.
Perlmutter told the WSJ that he plans to ask Disney’s (DIS) board to accept one or more of Trian’s nominees, including Peltz. Perlmutter became one of Disney’s largest independent holders when he sold Marvel to the entertainment giant for $4 billion in 2009.