Disney Stock Rises on Deal to Share Information With Activist Investor

The move comes as Disney CEO Bob Iger contends with Peltz, who last month nominated himself and another member of his firm for slots on the board. Peltz has renewed his proxy battle at Disney, which he said has underperformed for too long. One reason for that, he has argued, is because the board is too closely connected to Iger.

Separately, activist hedge fund Blackwells Capital is nominating three members to Disney’s board, it said in a statement Wednesday. Unlike Peltz, Blackwells supports Iger’s work.

Disney is struggling to become more profitable after investing heavily in its streaming platform, Disney+. It is also working to revive the theme park business after the hit from Covid-19 lockdowns. Critics say that Disney, with its wealth of intellectual property and long history of hit movies such as Frozen and the Lion King, should be doing better.

Disney shares added 0.3% in early trading to $91.01. They have risen 14% over the past three months, but remain lower than a year ago and well below an early 2021 peak of around $190.

Shares of
Comcast,
a rival media corporation, slipped 0.6%.
Warner Bros. Discovery
stock was down 3.6%. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%.

ValueAct has helped companies including
Spotify,
the
New York Times,

Microsoft,
and
Salesforce
manage significant transitions, Disney said in the statement.

Write to Brian Swint at brian.swint@barrons.com