Activist hedge fund Blackwells Capital is seeking support for three board director nominees at Walt Disney, saying in a preliminary proxy filing that all three have skills and experience that would help the business, according to a report by Reuters.
In the filing, Blackwells has also proposed a non-binding advisory resolution that, should any Disney candidate fail to win election to the board, the entertainment giant should expand the number of board directors and elect Blackwells’s nominees to fill the new vacancies.
Blackwells nominees are: Craig Hatkoff, a Co-Founder of the Tribeca Film Festival who also has a background in real estate; Jessica Schell, a former Executive Vice President of Warner Bros Home Entertainment who also worked at Universal Pictures; and Leah Solivan, Founder and former CEO of TaskRabbit, an online marketplace for freelance labour.
The filing comes shortly after another activist, Trian Fund Management, named two board nominees, including the firm’s Founder, Nelson Peltz, while Disney named its own slate of directors and rejected alternatives suggested by the firms.
