Nelson Peltz cashed out his shares of Disney shortly after the activist investor lost his bid to win seats on the Mouse House’s board , according to a CNBC report Wednesday. Peltz sold all of his Disney stock at “close to $120 dollars a share,” making about $1 billion on the sale, CNBC reported, citing an anonymous source. That would indicate that Peltz sold the shares in the days immediately after the April 3 Disney shareholder meeting — where his bid to shake up Disney’s board was soundly defeated.
A rep for Trian Partners, the hedge fund headed by Peltz, declined to comment. Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. At the April 3 virtual meeting of Disney shareholders, investors voted to reelect the current 12-member board of directors by a substantial margin over the candidates nominated by Trian — Peltz himself and ex-Disney CFO Jay Rasulo — and a smaller investment firm, Blackwells Capital.
Peltz, in an appearance on CNBC April 4 , had threatened to resume his activist agenda at Disney if the company and CEO Bob Iger did not keep their “promises.” “I hope this is not a redo of last year where we pulled out, gave management a chance and the stock went down,” Peltz said in the CNBC interview. He added, “Whether we stay [invested in Disney] or not, we don’t make those kinds of announcements.
” Peltz’s Trian had at one time controlled 32.3 million shares of Disney, including about 30 million owned by former Marvel Entertainme.