Peltz, an activist investor, begins the battle for a Disney board seat

(Reuters) – Nelson Peltz is launching a fight to get a seat on the Walt Disney Co board to help turn around a company he claims is in crisis due to failing succession planning, streaming losses mounting and excessive spending on 21st Century Fox acquisition.

After being denied a seat on the board, the prominent activist investor Trian Fund Management filed documents with the U.S. Securities regulator Thursday to be elected as a director at Disney.

Disney did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Peltz’s dispute with the entertainment and media giant could be a significant challenge to Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger, just months after he retired to lead the Mickey Mouse Home for the second time.

Disney shares rose by more than 1%. Analysts point to Peltz’s past success in generating cost reductions and bringing about changes at the firms he has targeted.

Rosenblatt Securities stated in a note that investors would appreciate more assurance that past problems will not repeat.

“Peltz — with a change-maker history at targets including P&G, Heinz, and Wendy’s — could provide a measure of that.”

Trian Fund Management holds approximately $900million worth of Disney stock. This equates to 0.5% stake under the disclosure threshold at 5%.

Peltz does not have a plan to reach his goals. Disney sources claim that he has only criticised without offering any solutions.

Third Point’s Daniel Loeb also pressured Disney to rejuvenate its board. This was due to uncertainty about its streaming business’ profitability and the unexpected return of Bob Iger as chief executive from retirement.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram and Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)