By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz, who lost a bruising boardroom challenge at Walt Disney (NYSE:) this year, is confident the company’s new board chairman will find a ‘respectable CEO’ to replace Bob Iger.
Peltz called James Gorman, a former Morgan Stanley (NYSE:) chief who was recently named Disney board’s chairman, a “good man” and expressed confidence Gorman will run a thorough search process and solve the company’s succession planning problems.
“He will get a respectable CEO in there,” Peltz said, adding that he thinks the company will have a new CEO before the end of 2025. He was speaking at the CNBC Delivering Alpha Conference.
The company last month said it would name a new chief in early 2026. The new chief would replace Iger who returned to the company to take the top job in 2022 after the board fired the CEO Iger had handpicked to replace him.
Peltz’ Trian Fund Management ran a bruising proxy battle at Disney, criticizing the company’s streaming division, succession plans and stock price but lost his bid to join the board. Investors voted in early April to keep him and a former company chief financial officer Peltz had nominated as a second dissident candidate off the board.
On Wednesday, Peltz blamed large index funds that manage trillions of dollars for investors for his loss, saying the “index funds did not want me to win.”
After the vote, Peltz quickly exited the stock, saying that he sold when the stock was trading around $119 a share. He made a profit since he bought in when the stock was trading around $80 a share, he said.
He warned Disney that he is watching from afar and could return for another battle if the stock price drops more. “If the stock goes back to the $80s, I’ll be back. I promise,” he said.
Disney’s stock is currently trading at $102.85 a share.
