Yahoo Finance Disney Releases Official Vote Tallies from 2024 Shareholders Meeting, Showing 9 of Its 12 Board Candidates Each Received More Than 90% Shares Cast in Their Favor
Disney released the official vote counts from its 2024 meeting of shareholders held April 3 — in which investors decisively defeated a campaign by activist investor Nelson Peltz to win two seats on its board.
According to the vote totals disclosed in an SEC filing Tuesday, nine of the 12 Disney-backed director candidates received more than 90% of the shares voted in their favor. The highest totals were received by Disney’s two newest directors, appointed last November — Morgan Stanley executive chairman James Gorman (98%) and former Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch (96%) — and former Cisco and Google exec Amy Chang (96%).
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Disney CEO Bob Iger, as previously reported, received 94% of shares voted in favor of his reelection to the board.
The two Disney nominees with the lowest vote totals for their reelection were the two incumbent directors targeted by Peltz’s Trian Partners for removal — Maria Elena Lagomasino (63%) and Michael Froman (87%). Disney chairman Mark Parker had 88%.
Peltz, head of hedge fund Trian, whose holdings include 30 million shares owned by ex-Marvel Entertainment chair Ike Perlmutter, garnered 31% of shares voted in his favor. Jay Rasulo, the former Disney CFO whom Trian also had nominated for a board seat, won 12% of votes cast in his favor.
Meanwhile, the three candidates nominated by another investment firm, Blackwells Capital, received only 2% of votes cast in their favor.
Although Peltz lost the proxy fight, he warned that he would take up the crusade again if Disney didn’t follow through on its pledges, including to move quickly on the CEO succession process to name a replacement for Iger (whose contract extension is up at the end of 2026). “We will watch like we did last time,” Peltz said in an interview on CNBC on April 4. “We’ve got a new set of promises, and I hope they keep them… but if they don’t, you’ll see me again.”
Disney shareholders of record were eligible to cast votes for up to 12 nominees. Per Disney’s bylaws, directors were elected by shareholders on a plurality basis. That means that the 12 director nominees receiving the greatest number of “for” votes cast were elected. Trian had claimed it supported Iger as CEO and for the board, but it withheld votes for his reelection as director.
Here are the official vote totals, per Disney (updated with final results, as certified by independent audit, in an April 17 filing):
For | Withhold | % For | |
Disney’s Nominees | |||
Mary T. Barra | 1,107,134,930 | 84,328,145 | 93% |
Safra A. Catz | 1,115,167,223 | 76,248,106 | 94% |
Amy L. Chang | 1,148,348,862 | 43,098,849 | 96% |
D. Jeremy Darroch | 1,147,893,579 | 43,511,230 | 96% |
Carolyn N. Everson | 1,108,546,931 | 82,870,427 | 93% |
Michael B.G. Froman | 1,041,407,854 | 150,327,335 | 87% |
James P. Gorman | 1,160,950,477 | 30,438,562 | 98% |
Robert A. Iger | 1,118,465,241 | 73,022,334 | 94% |
Maria Elena Lagomasino | 749,857,222 | 441,873,001 | 63% |
Calvin R. McDonald | 1,111,262,043 | 80,118,980 | 93% |
Mark G. Parker | 1,043,810,632 | 147,566,117 | 88% |
Derica W. Rice | 1,088,315,396 | 103,062,269 | 91% |
Trian’s Nominees | |||
Nelson Peltz | 370,974,890 | 819,744,149 | 31% |
James A. Rasulo | 141,546,437 | 1,049,145,182 | 12% |
Blackwells’ Nominees | |||
Craig Hatkoff | 24,418,048 | 1,166,185,972 | 2% |
Jessica Schell | 25,164,966 | 1,165,449,628 | 2% |
Leah Solivan | 24,318,797 | 1,166,261,970 | 2% |
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