On January 11, Walt Disney said that the board elected Mark Parker to be chairman, and this announcement shall be in effect following the annual meeting of shareholders. Since 2016, Parker has been a Disney director, and he also serves as executive chairman of Nike.
Susan Arnold is being replaced by parker, who assumed the role on Dec. 31, 2021. She will not stand for re-election because of the Disney board’s 15-year term limit on tenure, which is over for her now.
The entertainment giant also shared that shareholder Trian Partners had nominated founding partner Nelson Peltz to serve on the company’s board. It added that while it has engaged with Peltz “numerous times over the last few months,” the board does not approve of Peltz as a nominee and suggests that shareholders vote against him.
It’s sadly acknowledged that Walt Disney continues and struggles with Mickey Mouse corporate governance. On Wednesday, the $176 billion entertainment behemoth appointed Nike Chairman Mark Parker to run its board, too. He is also being given the responsibility of finding yet another successor for Chief Executive Bob Iger. And he’ll be squaring off with pushy investor Nelson Peltz. The silly drama never seems to end.
Last year, Disney suddenly removed Bob Chapek soon after giving him a new three-year deal to reign over the Magic Kingdom and brought Iger out of retirement. Parker, who has been a director at Disney since 2016, was around for all of it. It makes him an odd choice to put in charge of amending the mismanaged transition in which he played a role.
The board’s hurried decisions go even further. Parker is filling the chair’s seat being vacated by Susan Arnold. She was the head of the table at the end of 2021 and is leaving now because her 15 years of directorship tenure is over as per Disney’s rules. It begs the question of why, if Parker makes so much sense now, to be considered as another disruptive changeover.
This sort of chaos only aggravates unhappy shareholders. After disagreeing with Third Point’s Dan Loeb, who struck an agreement with Disney following the company’s addition of the former Meta Platforms executive Carolyn Everson to the board, Disney now will have to tangle with Peltz’s Trian. After unsuccessfully negotiating with Iger, he is starting a proxy fight to get himself on the board. Trian cites the poor succession planning, bad judgement to buy parts of Fox and its struggle with profitability at its streaming services. Disney predicted Peltz’s announcement and requested shareholders not to support him.
