Disney winning proxy battle with Trian with more than half of votes cast – WSJ

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) is prevailing over activist Trian in its proxy fight for board seats, with more than half of the votes cast, according to a WSJ report on Monday.

BlackRock, Disney’s second-largest shareholder with a 4.2% stake, is among the investors backing the entertainment giant, according to the WSJ report, which cited people familiar with the matter.

Money manager T. Rowe Price also said on Monday it plans to vote for Disney. It owns about 9.3 million Disney shares, or about 0.5% of the total.

“T. Rowe Price is comfortable that management has a viable plan to address the important matters facing the company,” the money manager said in a statement, according to a Bloomberg report.

The news comes as Disney (DIS) holders are set to vote on the proxy feud between Trian’s Nelson Peltz and Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger at the annual meeting on Wednesday. It’s not guaranteed that Disney (DIS) will remain ahead in the voting as investors are still casting votes and can change them through the annual meeting, the WSJ said.

Trian’s campaign, officially launched in early 2024, has drawn support from key stakeholders, including influential proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services, which has backed Nelson Peltz’s candidacy but not Jay Rasulo, a former CFO of Disney. Proxy firm Glass Lewis has backed Disney’s director slate.

Activist investor Blackwells Capital also nominated three directors for Disney’s board.

Reuters reported on Friday that the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) said it voted to elect Trian’s director nominees. CalPERS, the biggest public pension plan in the U.S., owned 6.65M Disney (DIS) shares as of the end of 2023.