Bob Iger said he stopped Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter from firing Kevin Feige in 2015

Disney CEO Bob Iger today called Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter’s endorsement of activist investor Nelson Peltz “a strange dynamic.”

Peltz of the Trian Group this morning dropped his battle with Disney trying to secure a seat on the board. He said a major corporate restructuring announced Wednesday has allayed many of his concerns about the company’s management and strategy. Peltz’s campaign only became public in the middle of last year, but began in 2022 under former CEO Bob Chapek and with Perlmutter’s support, according to Disney.

In an SEC filing in January as part of its proxy fight with Peltz, Disney lists meetings and calls starting in the summer of 2022 with Peltz and Chapek, CFO Christine McCarthy, directors Amy Chang and Safra Catz, general counsel Horatio Gutierrez and Iger, some initiated by Perlmutter, who supported Peltz and lobbied on his behalf to Disney executives and board members.

“Peltz or Isaac Perlmutter (a Disney employee and shareholder who is currently chairman of Marvel Entertainment) has requested a seat on the board on Peltz’s behalf or has proposed serving on the board no less than 20 times since July 2022, Disney said in the filing.

In an interview with CNBC, Iger said Peltz is not happy about losing control of Marvel’s film production.

“Our filings show that both Ike and Nelson worked together to encourage or persuade the board to put Nelson on the board. They have a relationship that goes back quite some time. We bought Marvel in 2009. I promised Ike the job that he would continue with Marvel after that. Not forever, necessarily. But after that. And in 2015, he planned to fire Kevin Feige, who was in charge of Marvel’s studio, which produced the film. [operation] at the time, and I thought it was a mistake and took steps to prevent it. I think Kevin is an incredibly, incredibly talented manager, you know, Marvel’s track record speaks for itself. And so I moved Marvel film production from under Ike to the film studio under Alan Horn.” (Feige reported directly to Horn, who retired from the company in 2021.)

When asked by moderator David Faber if it caused malice, he said: “You’d have to ask Ike. But let’s put it this way. He wasn’t happy about it. And I think unhappiness exists today. And you know the connection between that and Nelson, his relationship. I think you can speculate on that. I don’t.’