With Disney’s Annual Meeting of shareholders approaching, Nelson Peltz and Trian Group have published a 130-page whitepaper detailing their plans to “Restore the Magic.”
- Trian’s latest document accuses Disney’s board of being “the root cause of Disney’s underperformance” in recent years.
- The document also offers suggestions for how Disney should be run in the future.
- They specifically mention Disney’s need to “right-size” their cost structure for their legacy linear TV networks and studio business.
- “We believe that it is unlikely that Disney can realize its full potential if it refuses to sufficiently right-size expenses in legacy businesses that are growth challenged.”
- As The Hollywood Reporter reports, Trian suggests spinning out or finding strategic partners for Disney’s legacy linear TV networks.
- They also suggest fully consolidating Disney+ and Hulu, while questioning the viability of Hulu with Live TV.
- Trian also voices skepticism regarding ESPN’s viability as a standalone streaming service, offering two potential paths for ESPN:
- “Move Forward with ESPN Flagship DTC, Ideally With a “Bundle” Partner like Netflix or Amazon, After Justifying Distribution Strategy”
- “Scale Back ESPN’s DTC Plans and Focus on Maximizing the Value of ESPN+ and the Existing Linear Business”
- At Disney’s Annual Meeting of shareholders, which will be held on April 3, Peltz and Trian will seek to take over the seats of Disney board members Michael B.G. Froman and Maria Elena Lagomasino.
- The grandchildren of Walt and Roy Disney have shared letters expressing their support of Disney CEO Bob Iger and the company’s ongoing proxy battle against Trian.