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The house of Mickey Mouse in a letter to shareholders also underlined the company’s successes under Chief Executive Bob Iger, who recently returned from retirement to lead the company for a second time.
“Peltz does not understand Disney’s businesses and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board in delivering shareholder value in a rapidly shifting media ecosystem,” Disney said.
The billionaire last week formally launched his bid for a board seat to rescue the company from what he called a “crisis” of overspending on the streaming business, the purchase of 21st Century Fox and failed succession planning.
The move is seen as a serious challenge to Iger and pits one of the most popular executives in Hollywood against the activist investor known for his work at consumer firms.
Peltz told CNBC on Thursday that Disney should either jettison the streaming business or buy the rest of rival streaming service Hulu. Disney has a majority stake in Hulu; Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) owns the rest.
Disney also needs to boost capital expenditure at its parks business, where it probably raised ticket prices “too hard,” he said then.
In its statement on Tuesday, Disney said it was already working to improve profitability at the Disney+ streaming business that Iger helped launch in 2019 and was rolling out broader cost-cutting measures.
Peltz’s Trian Fund Management, which owns a 0.5% stake, or roughly $900 million in Disney, declined to comment.
Unless Peltz settles with Disney, investors will vote this year on whether he should sit on the company’s board. Last year, the annual shareholder meeting was held on March 9.
