The board’s activity would cause Disney actor Bob Iger tremendous grief

Investors’ appetite for institutionalism has its limits and usually begins with a decline in the share price. For more proof, see What’s Happening at Disney.

For years House of Mouse has been the epicenter of political correctness. Investors largely ignored this circus (including the same-sex kissing scene in children’s programming) because Disney stocks soared.

not longer. After CEO Bob Iger retired in 2020, successor Bob Chapek proved far less adept as a manager and salesman of vitality. pandemic The theme park closures didn’t help. Plus it was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis crushed him For opposing a law banning schools from teaching sex education to 6-year-olds and losing Disney’s tax status.

Much of his programming turned out to be useless and his broadcasting strategy faltered. Disney stock collapsed so badly that Chapek was offered the door after only two years on the job.

Egger, 71 years old He returned to the right of the ship And the sadness intensified. Its stock has fallen largely due to rising costs and the flow has been left in limbo, denting revenue and earnings.

Brave duo Activist investors are now circling the company like vultures. Dan Loeb Third Point and Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners are not like passive fund managers in that they use their ownership positions to advocate for changes they believe will immediately send the stock price higher, so current management be damned.

They both have big stakes in Disney, and they’re both for starters I want Iger to focus less on programming that appeals to AOC And more about things that appeal to Central America. They want a cohesive streaming strategy, lower costs, and more.

Blitz, in particular, has to make Disney and Iger flip flops. He advocates “constructive engagement” with the companies he targets, but he is a longtime critic of Iger and has a sizeable $940 million stake in stock that he will likely add as he prepares for war. Meanwhile, look at what he did at GE: He suspended CEO Jeff Immelt just two years after he acquired the stock because he believed Immelt couldn’t make its numbers and the stock faltered.

Khalifa Immelt went to the meeting about a year later for the same reason. The current administration that Peltz has installed is well on its way to dismantling what was one of the largest conglomerates in US history.

Well, Peltz often gets his way and isn’t known for being as patient when he wastes his money as he was at GE. Sure enough now a boardroom battle for the ages Peltz demanded him a board seat and Egger told him to hit the sand. I’m told Egger is about to up the ante by presenting a power of attorney to explain why he believes Peltz is unqualified for the seat.

So far, Peltz says he doesn’t want GE to pull over and break up Disney, and Iger could stay on as CEO for the next two years. But based on his history, Peltz wouldn’t stand with stiff arm if Disney stock didn’t start rising, and fast.

That could mean, in addition to everything else on Peltz’s wish list, getting rid of Disney’s so-called “non-core assets” to boost profits. Bankers tell me that sales of Disney’s cable sports network ESPN, and possibly all of its ABC television networks, are on the table and a real possibility to satisfy Peltz’s desire to raise the share price.

Also of course On the table is Iger’s post If he didn’t make his numbers.

DJ Soleil’s last dance?

Never before has a well-delivered routine round of layoffs on Wall Street caused a bigger stir. But nothing seems to fall quietly when you bear David Solomon’s fingerprints on it.

Solomon, as this column pointed out, is The embattled CEO of Goldman Sachs. He’s a polarizing figure within the prestigious investment bank of the White Boots – and that goes beyond his in-house controversial side hustle as a DJ during the summer Hamptons party scene.

A group of senior partners wants him, and they might have their way if they can leak enough nasty stuff to embarrass Goldman’s board into making a change.

Just as Solomon was about to be declared a difficult person, Approximately 6% of their employees are executed (Called “David’s Demolition Day”), The Post’s Lydia Moynihan reports that Solomon cruelly ended Goldman’s free coffee benefit.

It would take more than a few leaks for the Can Solomon, but they are symptoms of poor hand management. And it could be ultimately fatal in a place like Goldman, with its “Game of Thrones” management turmoil.

Goldman’s culture is one of constant power struggle between traders and investment bankers. when one side Controls the balance sheet And the other side is in power, change is not far off.

Remember how the merchant John Corzine (the future senator and governor of New Jersey) was replaced at the top after a banking coup led by the main banker Hank Paulson (the future Secretary of the Treasury). Traders Lloyd Blankfein and Gary Cohn paid Paulson & Co. when trading profits went up. Solomon, an old banker, took Blankfein out during the deal boom.

Solomon now finds himself in the middle of a Goldman CEO dance amid soaring trading revenues, a slowdown in deals and the near collapse of his retail banking foray. For him, there are two ways out: Pray for more deals and (hard) fast. Or finally find a merger partner who I was told was waiting to be taken over when asset values ​​plummeted.

The right merger (with Goldman being the official acquirer) would also likely keep Solomon in his job for as long as he wants.