[As Disney’s former CEO Bob Iger returns, the company] is facing a proxy fight from activist investor Nelson Peltz and his fund Trian Partners. Trian has nominated Peltz to serve on the board.

In a presentation published on Jan. 11, the investment firm described many of Disney’s challenges as “self-inflicted” and advocated for the entertainment giant to restore its dividend by fiscal year 2025, seek more “efficiencies and additional profits” and expressed concern that Disney management’s direct-to-consumer streaming push with Disney+ “failed to effectively communicate the financial rationale behind the strategic pivot.”

Peltz’ fund went on to elaborate its concerns with Disney+, adding: “We are surprised that Disney’s best-in-class IP, franchises, and scale have not led to in-line, if not superior, unit economics compared with Netflix, which generally lacks high quality, franchise IP.” It also claimed that Netflix is more cost effective in its production and programming costs compared to Disney.

The activist investor’s Trian also specified that it is not looking to oust Iger or spin off assets like ESPN but that the fund is for “ensuring successful CEO succession within 2 years,” meaning that it is looking for Iger to leave that role at that time.

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