by Disney sees a revenge story: Peltz is aligned with Ike Perlmutter, who was fired from an executive position at Disney, and Jay Rasulo, a former Disney executive who was passed over for the CEO position in 2015 and resigned. Disney has asked shareholders to reject Trian and another activist investor, Blackwells Capital, arguing that giving them board seats would slow the company’s turnaround effort. (Last year, Peltz waged an unsuccessful campaign for a Disney reorganization.)
“The last thing we need right now is for an activist or activists who frankly have a completely different agenda and don’t understand our company, its assets, or even its essence, to distract us, in terms of our time and our energy. of the Disney brand,” Iger said on CNBC on Wednesday.
A Trian spokesperson had no immediate comment.
Iger used part of Disney’s quarterly conference call with analysts to emphasize progress in strengthening ESPN amid an uncertain future. A decade ago, more than 100 million households paid for a cable or satellite television package that included ESPN. Now the total is approaching 70 million, falling to the 50 million projected by analysts for 2027.
Disney will introduce a flagship ESPN streaming service in 2025, “probably in the fall, maybe late August,” Iger said. The service will include most of the programming currently seen on ESPN’s main cable channel. It will also offer sports betting, extensive statistics, fantasy sports, e-commerce and will have “robust” customization capabilities. (ESPN’s flagship service will be separate from ESPN+, a streaming app that offers more specialized programming.)
Additionally, Disney, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery announced Tuesday that they would team up and sell access to all the sports they televised (across 14 cable channels) through another new streaming service. It will be available this fall. Other details, such as the price or who would provide the service, are not yet known.
Disney’s theme parks and consumer products division posted profits of $3.1 billion, an increase of 8 percent compared to the previous year. Revenue rose 4 percent to $6.3 billion. For the first time, all of Disney’s overseas theme parks were profitable, including the troubled Hong Kong Disneyland.
Laura Hirsch contributed reports.
