Nelson Peltz, Ike Perlmutter, and Jay Rasulo say they want to help Bob Iger restore the company to its 2015 glory. But doesn’t everyone in Hollywood? And wouldn’t you trust literally anyone instead of them?
Ask people in Bob Iger’s orbit for his reaction to Jay Rasulo joining the disgruntled shareholder fight against Disney, and you’ll get some version of Can you believe this?! Iger should be forgiven his incredulity; it’s all pretty remarkable, to be honest. Not so long ago, Disney was untouchable, the envy of Hollywood, and a multipronged media platform of such universal renown that Iger seriously considered running for president. Now, it’s still the biggest and best pure entertainment company in the world, but…
And Rasulo, the former Disney C.F.O., who left the company and disappeared in 2015 after being passed over for the No. 2 job, was said to be content in semi-retirement and had declined offers to set up spite stores elsewhere. But now he’s gone full Galactic Empire, having been seduced by activist investor Nelson Peltz and fired Marvel executive Ike Perlmutter—the Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader of Disney shareholders—to join Peltz as a potential board member in their proxy battle. “The Disney I know and love has lost its way,” Rasulo said in a statement, adding, “With Nelson, Ike, and the power of the Dark Side, together we will rule the galaxy.” (Okay, I made that last part up.)
For Iger, and for all of Hollywood, such are the indignities of secular decline. In a year defined by crippling labor strikes and a massive content correction, the challenges at Disney have in many ways summed up the entire entertainment industry. The TV business has officially Thelma & Louise-ed into oblivion; nobody knows what regular people want to see in a movie theater; streaming is a money-suck ($2.6 billion lost in fiscal 2023 at Disney alone); sports is a bigger money-suck; creative malaise has crept into some of the most bankable franchises; investors are panicking; and, predictably, the cockroaches have come out to feed. Against this backdrop, there are no hungrier Hollywood cockroaches than Peltz, Perlmutter, and now Rasulo, which earns them the honor of Villains of the Year.
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