While Nelson Peltz has called his push for changes at Walt Disney Co. a victory for all shareholders, it’s so far certainly a win for the 80-year-old activist investor himself.
Peltz’s Trian Partners has made a paper profit of about $154 million on the stake he built in the entertainment giant, based on where Disney’s stock is trading Friday, according to people familiar with the investment and Bloomberg calculations.
At Disney’s intraday high on Thursday, after Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger announced a major restructuring aimed at saving the company $5.5 billion, Peltz’s stake was briefly worth as much as $250 million.
Trian paid an average price of just under $92 apiece for its 9.4 million shares, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
After a months-long campaign to win a board seat at Disney — fought both behind doors and in public — Peltz said on Thursday that he was abandoning his proxy fight after Iger committed to many of the changes he had pushed for. Iger has said Disney will cut 7,000 jobs as part of the restructuring, and will consider restoring the company’s dividend later this year after it was suspended early in the pandemic. The company’s annual meeting will be held April 3.
Trian’s proxy filing shows that the firm bought large numbers of shares in early November, when the stock traded as low as $86.28. Two big trades in December were done at $95.59 per share and $95.16. Disney’s stock is up almost 25% over the past three months.
In addition to the potential return on his investment, Peltz will likely have saved millions of dollars more by calling off the proxy fight. On Jan 31., Trian said in a filing that its campaign to win a board seat for Peltz could cost as much as $25 million. As of that date, it had spent just $1.6 million soliciting proxies.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.