Charles Gasparino: Boardroom Activism Will Cause Tremendous Grief for Disney’s Bob Iger

Investors’ appetite for woke corporatism can reach its limits, and it often begins with a decline in share prices. For further proof, look at what’s going down at Disney.

The tradition of excellence has been maintained for many years “House of Mouse” It was the epicenter political correctness. Investors largely ignored this circus (including a same-sex kissing scene in children’s programming) because Disney’s stock soared.

It’s over. Bob Iger, the long-serving CEO, died in 2020. His successor Bob Chapek was far less skilled as a manager and as a seller of wokeness. Pandemic theme-park closures didn’t help. He was also crushed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for opposing a law that prevented schools from teaching sex ed to 6-year-olds and lost Disney’s special tax status.

His programming was a failure and his streaming strategy failed. Disney’s stock collapsed so much that Chapek was shown the door just about two years into the job.

Iger, 71, made his return to right the ship He got more pain. His stock has been flatlined due to rising costs and streaming, which is eating into revenues as well as profits.

A duo of nettlesome activist investors are now circling the company like vultures. Dan Loeb’s Third Point and Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners are unlike passive fund managers in that they use their ownership positions to advocate for changes they believe will lead immediately to a higher share price, current ­management be damned.

Both have huge stakes in Disney. want Iger to focus less on programming that appeals to AOC You can find more information about Middle America here. They need a cohesive streaming strategy, cost savings and many other things. 

Particularly, Peltz should make Disney and Iger blush. He preaches “constructive engagement” with companies he’s targeting, but he’s a longtime critic of Iger and has a significant, $940 million stake in the stock that he will likely add to as he gears up for war. Meanwhile, look what he did at GE: He defenestrated CEO Jeff Immelt just two years after acquiring shares because he believed Immelt couldn’t make his numbers and the stock floundered.

Immelt’s successor went bye-bye about a year later for the same reason. The current management, which Peltz has installed, is working to dismantle one of the largest conglomerates in American history.

OK, Peltz often gets his way and isn’t known for his patience when his money is being wasted away as it was at GE. It is now certain that there will be a boardroom battle of the ages. Peltz asked for a board seat, and Iger said to him to “pound sand.” I hear that Iger is about upping the ante and filing a preliminary proxy in order to explain why he feels Peltz isn’t qualified for the seat.

So far, Peltz says he doesn’t want to pull a GE on Disney and break it up, and Iger can stay as CEO for the next two years. But based on his history, Peltz won’t stand for getting the stiff-arm if Disney’s stock doesn’t start to move higher and fast.

That could mean, in addition to everything else on Peltz’s wish list, the shedding of Disney’s so-called “noncore assets” Profits will be increased. Bankers tell me sales of Disney’s sports cable network ESPN, and maybe all of its ABC television network, are on the table and a real possibility to appease Peltz’s desire for a higher stock price. 

Also, most definitely on the table is Iger’s job if he doesn’t make his numbers.

DJ Solly’s last dance?

Never before had such a routine and well-telegraphed round on Wall Street caused so much controversy. But it seems nothing goes down quietly when it has David Solomon’s fingerprints on it.

As this column points out, Solomon is the beleaguered CEO of Goldman Sachs. He’s a polarizing figure inside the prestigious white-shoe investment bank — and it goes beyond his internally controversial side hustle as a DJ during the summer Hamptons party scene.

A group of top partners wants him out and they may get their way if they can leaked enough bad stuff to embarrass Goldman board into making a change.

Just as Solomon was set to announce a hardly dramatic, approximately 6% culling of its staff (dubbed “David’s Demolition Day”), The Post’s Lydia Moynihan reported that Solomon callously ended Goldman’s free coffee perk.

While it may take more than a few leaks for Solomon to become a problem, these are indicators of poor management. They can be fatal at places like Goldman with its high-powered management. “Game of Thrones” management upheavals.

Goldman’s culture is one of constant power struggle between traders and investment bankers. If one side is winning, the other will lose. controls the balance sheet and the other side is in power, change isn’t far off. 

You may recall how Jon Corzine (a future New Jersey senator) was replaced as governor by Hank Paulson (a future secretary of the Treasury). Traders Gary Cohn, Lloyd Blankfein, and Gary Cohn pushed Paulson & Co. out of business when trading profits soared. Solomon was a long-standing banker who prodded Blankfein to leave during a deal boom.

Solomon is now caught in the middle of Goldman CEO dancing amid higher trading revenues and a slowdown of deals. He also faces the imminent collapse of his retail banking venture. For him there’s a couple of ways out: Pray for more deals and fast (difficult). Or finally find a merger partner that I am told he’s been waiting to seize upon when asset values ­decline.

Solomon will probably remain in his job if the merger is successful (with Goldman as the official buyer).

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