Elon Musk sides with Nelson Peltz in his battle against common foe Disney CEO Bob Iger
Elon Musk endorsed Nelson Peltz’s bid for a spot on the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company as the Tesla mogul continued his beef with Mouse House boss Bob Iger.
Musk, who famously told Iger and other CEOs who stopped advertising on his social media platform X to “go f–k yourself,” said that he would buy shares in Disney if Peltz got his way and shareholders voted to put him and another ally on the company’s board.
“Nelson Peltz should definitely be on the Disney board!” Musk wrote on X before dawn on Wednesday.
The Tesla mogul’s message appeared to fall on deaf ears as Disney shareholders were reportedly poised to side with management in the Mouse House’s battle with Peltz.
The final vote will be announced during a shareholders meeting at 1 p.m.
Peltz, the activist investor who co-founded Trian Partners, was reportedly on the verge of losing his proxy battle with Iger and Disney management after the company’s largest shareholder, the index fund manager Vanguard, threw its support behind incumbent board members, according to Bloomberg News.
Musk wrote that Peltz “would help reform the company, improve the quality of product and generally serve in the best interests of shareholders, as he has done at many other companies.”
“This would significantly improve Disney’s share price,” Musk wrote. Disney stock is up by nearly 35% since Jan. 1, but it remains down 35% from its all-time high in 2021.
Shares of Disney were trading flat at around $122 per share on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning.
In a follow-up post on X, Musk wrote that Peltz’s installment on Disney’s board would prompt him to buy shares in the company.
“His track record is excellent,” Musk gushed.
In late November, Musk appeared at a New York City business conference during which he lashed out at Iger for Disney’s decision to halt advertising on X in response to reports that the social media platform wasn’t doing enough to stamp out hate content.
Musk has also been critical of the “woke mind virus” infecting America– accusing Disney of helping to spread the phenomenon through its films and TV series.
In an April Fools’ joke, Musk quipped that he was joining Disney as their “Chief DEI Officer.”
“Can’t wait to work with Bob Iger and Kathleen Kennedy to make their content MORE woke!” the Tesla chief wrote on X.
“Even the linguini.”
As of Wednesday morning, more than 60% of votes had been counted in the vote by Disney shareholders.
Vanguard joined other institutional investors including BlackRock and T. Rowe Price in supporting the incumbent slate of board members, according to Bloomberg News.
Peltz was hoping to secure a board seat for himself as well as for Jay Rasulo, Disney’s former chief financial officer.
