Disney (DIS) – Proxy Fight, Password Sharing & 2026 – April 06, 2024
Proxy Fight
Disney won its proxy fight against Nelson Peltz and Trian. Trian will not get its desired board members. For now, this is pretty irrelevant to me. As I’ve said many times before, Iger is steering this turnaround in a surgical manner. This was a stamp of approval for the job he’s doing, while Trian’s pressure also surely placed a larger shareholder microscope over all of Disney’s actions. Works for me. Iger knows he has shareholder support; Iger knows he is being closely watched. Some say this spells concern for succession considering the board boggled the last leadership change. I’m speculating, but I truly don’t think Iger would have come back if he wasn’t guaranteed more control over the process this time. And I also think recent board additions like James Gorman were quite positive. STILL, it’s very likely that I will exit Disney before his retirement if the company and stock perform well enough to avoid the risk of another botched succession. Disney is not a 20% compound grower for the next 10 years, it is a recovery play.
Separately, Iger was asked about Musk’s harsh words towards him in an interview this week. His response could not have been more perfect:
“People have been coming at me for years. I ignore them. Next subject.” – Iger
Disney CEO Bob Iger
Password Sharing
In other Disney news, the firm’s planned crackdown on password sharing will begin this summer. That was a large boost for Netflix’s paying account and revenue results while it conducted its own crackdown. I don’t think Disney+ has the retention or pricing power of Netflix, but I do think this will still be a material boost to streaming financials in Disney’s push for positive EBIT this year.
2026 Film Slate
Disney announced that Toy Story 5, its latest Star Wars film and a live-action remake of Moana will all be released to theaters in 2026. This is Disney leaning into its very best IP, as it should. The first two should do very well. We’ll see how the Moana remake does.
