DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Disney rips Peltz over board fight, defends Iger's acquisitions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-17 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Disney ripped Nelson Peltz and his bid for a board seat Tuesday, as the entertainment giant's proxy fight with the investor and his activist firm, Trian Fund Management, takes shape. Disney said in a securities filing Tuesday that its board was where it needed to be to move the company forward. Last week, Peltz laid out his case for a proxy fight with Disney on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" after Trian filed a preliminary proxy statement looking for a seat on the board. Peltz raised issues with how shareholder value has eroded recently and Disney's $71 billion acquisition of Fox in 2019. The company said it had offered Peltz an information-sharing agreement, meaning he would have met quarterly with both management and the board, rather than a board observer role, as Peltz had said.

☆ A battle between Disney and activist Peltz brews. Here’s how the situation may unfold
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Disney offered Peltz, founding partner of Trian Fund Management, a role as a board observer and asked him to sign a standstill agreement, which Peltz declined. Offer of a board observer positionSometimes a board observer position can be beneficial, particularly for investors who do not have a lot of board experience and are less likely to be a regular contributor to board discussions. But offering Peltz a position as a board observer is like saying to Whitney Houston, "You can join the band, but you are not allowed to sing." It is curious as to why Peltz started this proxy fight in the first place and why Disney is resisting it. Peltz acquired his position when Bob Chapek was CEO and likely had a plan to replace him with someone Peltz had already identified.

☆ Accusations of a bro culture cloud Tiger Global's fundraising efforts after a $10 million settlement
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Rebecca Ungarino | Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Investors have learned of a $10 million settlement Tiger Global made to a former female employee. Investors don't really need another reason to shy away from Tiger Global Management after a year of terrible performance. The employee who settled with Tiger alleged that Tiger fostered a type of bro culture, led by men who prevented women executives from getting equal opportunities inside the firm. "Prioritizing these values in our day-to-day interactions inside and outside of Tiger Global has been the glue that has underpinned our success for the past 21 years. We remain committed to driving continuous improvement across Tiger Global as we look towards the future."

The tussle with Disney could be Peltz's biggest proxy battle since an acrimonious fight to bag a seat on the board of Tide detergent-maker P&G (PG.N). During his more than three-year tenure on P&G's board, the firm's stock price rose nearly 80%. Peltz's Trian Fund Management on Thursday filed documents with the U.S. securities regulator for his election as a director after Disney denied him a board seat. "Iger is a well-liked CEO, not only within Disney and its employees but also in Hollywood and the stock market. Investors will vote later this year on whether Peltz should sit on the company's board, unless it's settled before.

☆ Cramer explains why he's glad Disney CEO Bob Iger is back at the company's helm
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCramer explains why he's glad Disney CEO Bob Iger is back at the company's helmCramer gave his take on why Disney CEO Bob Iger's return to the company's helm was for the best.

☆ Disney board exposed itself to activist intervention, but Peltz may be overreaching
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Disney's share price spike in 2021 was caused by the same phenomenon — investors charging into streaming services with significant subscriber growth. Activist investor Nelson Peltz spent about 30 minutes Thursday morning speaking with CNBC's Jim Cramer and David Faber in a wide-ranging interview about why he wants a Disney board seat. Now Iger's back, and the Disney board has tasked him with finding a successor in the next two years. It's a far easier case to be made that Disney's board and Iger have consistently bungled succession planning. As Trian noted in its presentation (on Slide 28), the Disney board extended Iger's retirement date five different times between October 2011 and December 2017.

☆ Nelson Peltz's attempt to join Disney's board could force much-needed accountability
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

If Nelson Peltz were to win his fight to join Walt Disney 's (DIS) board of directors, the activist investor could force a level of accountability at the company that's sorely needed. Disney's board made the decision to not endorse Peltz and swiftly announced Wednesday that they named Mark Parker, a director since 2016 and executive chairman at Nike (NKE), as chairman, succeeding Susan Arnold. Disney, Peltz explained, "is a lot more than a media company." Disney's streaming business lost nearly $1.5 billion last quarter. Given Disney's distressed balance sheet, Jim asked Peltz about streaming service Hulu.

☆ 3 reasons why Nike's ex-CEO is what Disney needs right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Matthew Kish | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

At Nike, Parker engineered the company's direct-to-consumer push. During his 14 years as Nike CEO, the company's revenue nearly tripled. In 2017, as Nike CEO, Parker introduced the Consumer Direct Offense, an aggressive direct-sales push that's been a winner with Wall Street, although frustrating some on Main Street. While he was Nike CEO, Parker frequently used the phrase "always on the offense" to describe the company's aggressive approach to growing sales and market share. The company's stock climbed more than 760% during his CEO tenure, far exceeding the market.

☆ Disney is rolling back unpopular price hikes at its theme parks that were made under former CEO Bob Chapek
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Samantha Delouya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Disney is revising many of the unpopular theme park policies made under former CEO Bob Chapek. Current CEO Bob Iger reportedly complained to friends at length about theme park price hikes done under Chapek. A former parks executive himself, Bob Chapek angered many of Disney's most passionate theme park fans by jacking up prices and axing free services at the company's theme parks while CEO. "He's killing the soul of the company," Iger reportedly said. During Chapek's less-than-3-year stint as Disney CEO, he angered many of the company's most diehard fans: annual theme park pass holders.

☆ Disney is making it easier for its most loyal customers to visit its theme parks
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Sarah Whitten | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Disney is making some changes at its theme parks this year, prompted by feedback from guests who have complained about rising prices and longer wait times. In a letter Tuesday, parks and resorts Chairperson Josh D'Amaro told employees about a number of modifications to its reservation and ticketing system as well as its annual pass membership perks. This included the integration of an online reservation system, which required guests to plan visits in advance of arriving at the parks, and a reduction in capacity. During this time, Disney also pushed guests towards no-touch payment options, like its magic bands and mobile order and pay. While contactless payments are no longer required, guests can once again pay with cash, many guests have made the transition to these new methods.

Disney CEO Bob Iger told hybrid employees on Monday they must return to corporate offices four days a week starting March 1, according to an email obtained by CNBC. During the pandemic many companies opted for work-from-home or hybrid work models that kept large gatherings of people, and thus the spread of Covid, to a minimum. Iger's four-day-per-week stipulation is relatively strict compared with other large companies, which have opted for two or three mandated in-office days for hybrid employees. Apple mandated employees return to work three days a week in September. Twitter owner Elon Musk, who has famously slept as his companies' facilities as a show of commitment, ordered nearly all Twitter employees to return to the office five days a week in November.

☆ Vince McMahon is back at WWE to ensure a smooth sale process. Here's who might want to buy it
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

WWE has hired JPMorgan to help the company advise on a potential sale, according to people familiar with the matter. But it remains unclear what type of role, if any, McMahon would want at WWE if he sold the company. WWE has a market capitalization of more than $6 billion after rising nearly 17% percent on Friday, buoyed by heightened sale speculation. McMahon's company already has an exclusive streaming deal with Comcast's streaming service, Peacock, and a cable TV deal with NBCUniversal's USA Network. Fox sold off most of its entertainment assets in its $71 billion sale to Disney in 2019, but WWE fits with the smaller company's sports and live events focus.

☆ Goldman Sachs says these stocks could see strong earnings growth this year
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

With that, Goldman shared several names its analysts expect will show above-average earnings growth this year. Here are 10 of the names: The consumer discretionary sector shows the biggest promise for earnings growth – Goldman notes a projected 20% – followed by financial stocks, which are set to grow earnings 12%. T-Mobile tops the list for the fastest projected earnings growth, at 239% in 2023. Investors should expect strong earnings from Tesla too, according to Goldman, despite the stock's poor start to the year. But the decline has caught the eye of others on Wall Street given the company's growth prospects.

☆ 2022 was tough for media stocks like Netflix and Disney, and 2023 doesn't look good, either
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Lillian Rizzo | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

On top of that, companies are contending with lower ad revenue and more cord cutting. Tightening ad marketOn top of this, the ad market has worsened. Paramount missed third-quarter estimates after its ad revenue dropped, with its stock hitting a low in the following days. "We also anticipate that advertising streaming will become more important in the year to come," Solomon Partners' Boidman said. For media companies like Comcast and Charter Communications , lagging subscriber growth on the broadband front, rather than the pay-TV business, weighed more significantly on their stocks.

☆ Inside the Disney drama as CEO Bob Iger returns, replacing protege Bob Chapek
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Bob Iger returned to Disney as CEO in November, ending Bob Chapek's rocky tenure. In one of the most dramatic reversals in corporate history, the Walt Disney Co. board reinstated Bob Iger as CEO in November, ousting his predecessor Bob Chapek. Disney had just reported a $1.5 billion loss in its streaming business on a November 8 earnings call. Wall Street faulted him for waiting until after the 3Q earnings call to announce that layoffs were planned, for example. Read more about what Disney, Hollywood, and Iger expect from Iger:

☆ The biggest media targets and buyers in 2023, as speculation swirls around Disney's next move under CEO Bob Iger and how Warner Bros. Discovery can shed debt
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Lucia Moses | Claire Atkinson | Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Continued pressure to get bigger has big media companies in Hollywood looking to scale up. Media bankers and investors predicted to Insider that dealmaking will rebound in 2023 as companies big and small size up their options for possible tie-ups. Pressure on big media companies to get bigger hasn't gone away. Apple: Could eye a big content prizeTim Cook. Paramount's library could help a streaming company bulk up its content; Netflix for one has explored Paramount's studio business before.

☆ 12 media executives anonymously predict 2023's biggest deals, trends and changes
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Candle Media has acquired intellectual property assets including Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine production company and Moonbug, which owns the animated kids series "CoComelon." Executive 3: Iger extends his contract There's been lots of speculation over who Iger will choose as his successor. History suggests he has a hard time leaving the role of Disney CEO. Christine M. McCarthy, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer The Walt Disney Company. "I love Shari [Redstone], but ViacomCBS is not long for this world as it stands today," said a media executive last year.

☆ 6 key Disney executives working with Bob Iger to remake former CEO Bob Chapek's business structure
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Lucia Moses | Alison Brower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Disney CEO Bob Iger has returned to a company facing significant pressures on its linear and streaming businesses. He'll also need to unwind the business structure implemented in 2020 by his short-lived predecessor, Bob Chapek — which separated budgeting and distribution decisions from creative content development. Alan Bergman, chairman, Disney Studios ContentAlan Bergman. Disney Interactive/Reuters/Jonathan AlcornPitaro is close to Iger, has a long tenure at Disney, and has a foot in both creative and business sides. Dana Walden, chairman, Disney General Entertainment ContentDana Walden.

☆ Here's our November rapid-fire update on all 33 stocks in Cramer's Charitable trust portfolio
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Here's a rapid-fire update on every stock in the CNBC Investing Club portfolio. Estee Lauder (EL) — New Club members who want to start a position in the cosmetics giant could do so at these levels. We'd advise Club members do so the same, even if we still like the company's defensive nature. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio.

☆ From Disney to Target to Boeing, retirement is a thing of the past for CEOs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Bob Woods | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

SUN VALLEY, ID - JULY 13: (L-R) Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company, Dick Costolo, former chief executive officer of Twitter, Lachlan Murdoch, co-chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox, Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google, and Randall Stephenson, chief executive officer of AT&T, mingle during the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 13, 2018 in Sun Valley, Idaho. The average tenure for departing CEOs during that same time period was about 11 years, up from nine years in 2020. That's not surprising, because of the impact of the pandemic and [other] crises, where boards put CEO succession on hold," Anterasian said. "In our research, boards put CEO succession on hold during crises," Anterasian said. At Disney, Iger has said he will only stay on for two years before a successor takes over.

☆ Bob Iger's return as Disney CEO opens new possibilities for Hulu deal with Comcast
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Claire Atkinson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Disney will write "a big check" for Comcast's 33% share of Hulu, said NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell. With Bob Iger returning as Disney's CEO, Comcast is hoping for a broader conversation to seal the deal. Comcast is eyeing assets such as ESPN, FX, and NatGeo in return for surrendering its stake in Hulu. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who was unceremoniously fired on November 20, refused to hold any talks on the topic with Comcast CEO Brian Roberts, according to a Comcast insider and a high-level Hollywood executive familiar with thinking inside Disney. Representatives for Hulu, Disney, and Comcast had no comment.

Organizations: & $

☆ Disney's streaming platform poised to take on competition with new ad-tier
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

The streaming service also offers plans that include Hulu and ESPN+. In a cautionary tail, cable news network CNN in April shutdown its streaming service, CNN+, after just a month. Building and growing an industry-leading streaming service has required Disney to incur high costs along the way. Analysts at the bank said they were "bullish" on the streaming giant's new advertising tier to help churn, or the rate at which customers give up the streaming service. Importantly, we are eager to hear Iger's position on the future of Disney's streaming service, given the recent change in leadership.

☆ 2023 is shaping up to be a big year for dealmaking in live sports. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Big deals for the big (and little) screen. Next year is shaping up to be a big one for media deals. Like many other industries, media quickly turned quiet on the dealmaking front this year as the economy soured. However, a stabilization of interest rates, along with money burning a hole in investors' pockets, could lead to a big 2023, insiders say. The landscape for media deals is fascinating when you consider the two opposing forces, as Lucia pointed out to me.

☆ From Apple and Disney to Warner Bros. Discovery, here's the 2023 media deal outlook for Hollywood's biggest companies, according to 13 bankers and industry experts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Lucia Moses | Claire Atkinson | Reed Alexander | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

☆ The former CEO of WarnerMedia predicts only 3 major entertainment companies will survive in the streaming space
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Media exec Jason Kilar predicts only 3 entertainment companies will survive the streaming war. In a piece for The Wall Street Journal, Kilar predicted that only three of the global entertainment companies, not including tech giants Amazon and Apple, will come out of the "streaming war" unscathed. But based on Kilar's threshold, Disney is well-positioned to survive, with 235 million global subscribers across its services, 164 million of which belong to Disney+. Kilar added that "two or three major mergers and/or acquisitions" in the entertainment industry would occur in the next two years because of shifts in the streaming space. Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek, who was ousted last month, hinted in September that he'd want to integrate Hulu into Disney+ once the deal is complete, though it's unclear what returning CEO Bob Iger's plans are.

Search resuls for: "Iger's"

25 mentions found