financetom
Business
financetom
/
Business
/
Blackwells, in proxy fight with Disney, sues Disney over disclosure in hedge fund relationship
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Blackwells, in proxy fight with Disney, sues Disney over disclosure in hedge fund relationship
Mar 28, 2024 9:59 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Blackwells Capital upped the pressure on Walt Disney in a long-running boardroom battle, suing the entertainment giant on Thursday for information that may point to possible disclosure violations in dealings with hedge fund ValueAct Capital.

The suit, filed in a Delaware court, is the latest chapter in a fight over who will sit on Disney's board and help guide the home of Mickey Mouse in business and personnel decisions.

Disney called the claims "baseless" and said the lawsuit is a "desperate attempt to gain attention for their slate of director candidates."

Blackwells and another hedge fund, Trian Fund Management, are trying to persuade investors to elect their director candidates while Disney is backing its own directors at next week's annual shareholders meeting.

Blackwells' suit centers around a relationship between the entertainment company and ValueAct Capital and an information-sharing agreement the two signed earlier this year. The suit said Blackwells wants to inspect books and records to "investigate its credible suspicion of wrongdoing regarding Disney's dealings and disclosures related to ValueAct."

Disney had fully withdrawn the money it had invested with ValueAct and the firm no longer managed any money for the company when ValueAct built its stake in Disney last year, a person familiar with ValueAct's business told Reuters earlier this month.

Earlier this month the firm's chief investment officer and co-chief executive, Mason Morfit, backed re-electing Disney CEO Bob Iger and the entire Disney board, keeping the two hedge funds' contenders out.

Proxy advisory firm ISS, which often guides investors' votes, wrote last week, "ValueAct also indicated that although its investment team met with Bob Iger on very limited occasions in the years prior to its investment in Disney, Mason Morfit and Bob Iger do not have a personal relationship."

Disney said on Thursday that "no Disney pension plan funds are currently invested with ValueAct nor were they managing any Disney pension plan funds at the time of their entering into an information-sharing agreement with the company." Disney said it had offered to meet with Blackwells "to provide documentation confirming those facts, but Blackwells declined the meeting."

A Blackwells spokesperson said, "Shareholders are entitled to full disclosure about the ValueAct relationship including, among other things, all fees to it by Disney in the 10-year period leading up to ValueAct's endorsement of the Board."

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
Market Chatter: UBS Group Delays Migration of Some Credit Suisse Ultra-Wealthy Clients
Market Chatter: UBS Group Delays Migration of Some Credit Suisse Ultra-Wealthy Clients
Nov 11, 2025
05:47 AM EST, 11/11/2025 (MT Newswires) -- UBS (UBS) is delaying the migration of certain ultra-high-net-worth Credit Suisse clients to its own platforms by several months, Reuters reported Monday, citing sources. The report said the bank had initially planned to complete all client transfers in Switzerland by the end of March. Some transfers initially planned for September were moved to...
Market Chatter: Google Request to Export Map Data Again Delayed by South Korea
Market Chatter: Google Request to Export Map Data Again Delayed by South Korea
Nov 11, 2025
05:49 AM EST, 11/11/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) unit Google's ( GOOG ) request for permission to export map data was once again delayed by South Korea pending a request for additional documents, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing the country's land, infrastructure and transport ministry. The ministry has given the technology giant until Feb. 5 to submit additional documents...
SSR Mining Puts Cripple Creek Mine Life at 12 Years, Values Project at $824 Million NPV
SSR Mining Puts Cripple Creek Mine Life at 12 Years, Values Project at $824 Million NPV
Nov 11, 2025
06:10 AM EST, 11/11/2025 (MT Newswires) -- SSR Mining ( SSRGF ) (SSRM.TO, SSRM) on Monday released the results of a technical report summary for the Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine in Colorado, putting the initial life of mine at 12 years. The project has an after-tax net present value discounted at 5% of US$824 million at consensus gold...
Paramount Skydance shares climb as streaming bet takes center stage
Paramount Skydance shares climb as streaming bet takes center stage
Nov 11, 2025
(Reuters) -Paramount Skydance ( PSKY ) shares rose 5.5% as the newly merged media firm announced more cost cuts and plans to invest $1.5 billion in its streaming and studio divisions, lifting investor confidence following its first results since the merger. The results offered an early glimpse into the financial impact of CEO David Ellison's rapid overhaul of Paramount to...
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved