In an interview with CNBC, Disney CEO Bob Iger discussed the victory against activist investor Nelson Peltz, succession possibilities and the Right’s criticism of the studio’s “woke” content. He said the fight against Peltz had a positive outcome, and allowed the company to become closer to its investors.
On Wednesday, Disney shareholders rejected board nominees allied with Peltz, ending a months-long proxy battle centered on the company’s navigation of the streaming era. A majority of shareholders instead voted in support of a 12-person slate of board nominees put forward by Disney.
“Obviously, many of the businesses are experiencing the effect of disruption,” Iger added. “It’s one that takes not only a significant amount of knowledge, but a tremendous amount of time and focus.”
“Clearly shareholders care about [succession], given what the company has been through,” Iger said in the interview. “I think it’s really important to name the right person at the right time [and] create a transition process that is healthy. I think it’s really important … This is a big, complicated company. And not only is important to choose the right person, but it’s really important to give that person all the opportunity in the world to be successful in the job. And the board is very focused on who the person is when the decision should be made. And essentially, how the handover will take place … They are treating it with a sense of urgency.”
Iger pointed out that Disney is focused on the future, not the past. “Because you can’t do anything about what happened. You just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “This whole process [fighting off Peltz] gave the board and some members of management an opportunity to engage with many shareholders on an even deeper level and have a good, honest, candid dialogue, where we had an opportunity to describe the shareholders, what our priorities are, and what our various processes are, including succession. And we had an opportunity to listen to them and hear what was on their minds as well. So I think, if anything came of this, from that it’s positive is that it did in fact, increase the engagement that we’ve had with shareholders in this. And that’s a very good thing.”
When asked about the constant criticism of Disney from various Right-Wing sources, including X owner Elon Musk, who has repeatedly mocked Disney’s inclusive content and also financed a lawsuit by fired actress Gina Carano (The Mandalorian), Iger said that entertaining audiences is Disney’s biggest priority.
‘Can’t Please Every Body All the Time!’
He noted, “I think the noise is sort of quieted down. I’ve been preaching this for a long time at the company [from] before I left, and since I came back, that our number one goal is to entertain, I think the term ‘woke’ is thrown around rather liberally No, no pun intended. I think a lot of people don’t even understand really what it means. The bottom line is that infusing messaging as a sort of a number one priority in our films and TV shows is not what we’re up to. They need to be entertaining. And where the Disney company can have a positive impact on the world, whether it’s, you know, fostering acceptance and understanding of people of all different types great. But, generally speaking, we need to be entertainment for an entertainment first company, and I’ve worked really hard to do that.”
Iger said Disney continues to reach a very diverse audience. “One the one hand, in order to do that, the stories you tell have to really reflect the audience that you’re trying to reach … And really, first and foremost, they want to be entertained, and sometimes they can be turned off by certain things. And we just have to be more sensitive to the interest of a broad audience. It’s not easy, you can’t please everybody all the time, right?”
Sources: Deadline, Forbes, NBC News
