Nelson Peltz has once again taken aim at his longtime nemesis Bob Iger — accusing Disney’s outgoing chief executive of manipulating the company’s succession to retain power by setting his replacement up to fail.
Peltz, billionaire founder and CEO of activist hedge fund Trian Fund Management, told The Wall Street Journal that Iger elevated theme parks boss Josh D’Amaro to the top job over entertainment executive Dana Walden in order to justify Iger’s continued involvement after he formally steps down.
“Iger needs a reason to stay on,” Peltz speculated. “And if he put the person in charge of entertainment as the CEO, he wouldn’t have an excuse to stay on.”
D’Amaro, 54, is scheduled to assume the CEO role next month. Iger will remain a director and senior adviser through the end of the year, Disney has said.
Walden, who had been widely viewed as a leading contender for the top job, was instead elevated to a newly created role as president and chief creative officer.
Peltz predicted Iger would ultimately sideline D’Amaro the same way he did his previous handpicked successor, Bob Chapek, the former parks chief who ran Disney for two years before being ousted and replaced by Iger in 2022.
According to Peltz, Iger will eventually declare that “Josh doesn’t know anything about the movie business … Therefore, I’m gonna stay on and guide them.”
The Post has sought comment from Disney.
Chapek was handpicked by Iger to succeed him just weeks before the COVID pandemic plunged the company into crisis.
Rather than making a clean break, Iger stayed on as executive chairman with broad oversight of Disney’s creative operations, creating overlapping authority and internal tension.
The arrangement quickly soured, with Chapek increasingly viewed as a numbers-driven executive out of step with Disney’s creative culture while Iger remained a powerful presence behind the scenes.
Chapek’s brief tenure was marked by repeated controversies including clashes with Hollywood talent, employee unrest and political blowback in Florida, as well as mounting losses in Disney’s streaming business.
In November 2022, Disney’s board abruptly fired Chapek and reinstated Iger as CEO following a disastrous earnings report and a sharp stock selloff.
Peltz has been a thorn in Disney’s side for years, waging two high-profile proxy fights against the company and repeatedly clashing with Iger over strategy, governance and succession planning.
Peltz first set his sights on Disney in late 2022, building a roughly $500 million stake through his hedge fund after disappointing earnings and mounting losses in Disney’s streaming business.
He pushed for a board seat, arguing that Disney had lost focus, squandered capital and botched its leadership pipeline.
After Iger returned as CEO in November 2022 following the abrupt ouster of Chapek, Peltz briefly called a truce, praising Iger’s restructuring plan and cost-cutting push.
But the détente didn’t last. By late 2023, Peltz relaunched his campaign with backing from former Disney powerbroker Ike Perlmutter, nominating himself and ex-Disney CFO Jay Rasulo to the board.
The fight culminated in a bruising proxy battle that went to a shareholder vote in April 2024. Disney investors overwhelmingly sided with Iger and the board, rejecting Peltz’s nominees by wide margins and effectively ending the activist’s bid for influence.
Trian sold its entire Disney stake shortly after the defeat, walking away with a sizable profit.
