Squawk on the Street+ Nelson Peltz on Disney proxy battle 4/4/24

Jim Cramer (0:00)

The Wake of Faber's interview with Iger. Our Jim Cramer's back on set with us with another special guest, Jim. Yes, thank you so much, Carl. We've got activist investor, or I think constructivist investor Nelson Peltz with us now.

Nelson, you listen to the interview.

Are you a happy shareholder? Are you a selling shareholder for you, Trian, or for Ike Perlmutter?

Nelson Peltz (0:21)

Jim, before we get started, I wanna say thank you to a few people. I wanna thank you to all the shareholders who voted for us. I wanna thank my family and my beautiful wife Claudia for putting up with me through all of these campaigns.

I try to do the right thing. I try and help companies do the right thing. And I'm not gonna quit doing it. Now, what did you ask me, Jim?

Jim Cramer (0:49)

I did ask you whether you are happy with what the events are in terms of the stock price, and you will try and, or if you can speak for Ike, Ike Perlmutter, stay along the stock, given the fact that there are some changes that have been put through. Or is this the end of this campaign, and it's time to ring the register and move on?

Nelson Peltz (1:09)

Well, first of all, I'm not gonna discuss whether we're buyers or sellers here. I hope this is not a redo of last year, where we pulled out, gave management a chance, and the stock went down from roughly 120 down to 79 I hope that doesn't happen this time. Whether we stay or not, we don't make those kind of announcements.

I hope Bob can keep his promises.

I hope they can do all the things they assured us they were going to do, and we'll only watch and wait. If they do it, they won't hear from me again. If they don't, Jim, you may be seeing me on your show next year doing this same thing again. So it's really up to management. It's up to the board. It's up to whether they do what they say they were going to do or if it's going to same old story again. Look, they've got to get a succession plan finally in place that works.

Okay, we haven't seen one going back to 2011 They began talking about succession with 13 years from them and they haven't come up with anything. They've got to get the margins up. They've got to get streaming right. They made a lot of promises. And frankly, as a shareholder, I hope they keep them. Well, okay, so we're here.

Jim Cramer (2:42)

In Restore the Magic, your document, you say Disney claims that it has, and I quote, turned the corner and entered a new era, and you said it rings hollow for you. Any change, does it ring less hollow for you, given the fact that Bob Iger has came home with David Faber and talked about a number of changes that have been made already?

Nelson Peltz (3:02)

Look, I'm willing to give them the opportunity to prove me wrong. I'm willing to give them the opportunity to do as they say. The shareholders have voted. They want to give management and the board a chance. So, so be it. We will watch, like we did last time. We pulled out a year ago, February. A lot of promises were made. We hoped that they were going to keep them.

They didn't. We came back. We've got a new set of promises, and I hope they keep them. And if they do, I'll be a guest on your show, probably talking about a different company.

But if they don't, you'll see me again, Jim.

Jim Cramer (3:47)

Fair enough.

Any company in mind right now that's a different company, you've got me thinking about, I know this. I like to think a little forward, too. Is there anyone disappointing you that you think it might be good to take a look at?

Nelson Peltz (4:00)

Jim, I've got to finish buying that stock before I can tell you who it is.

Jim Cramer (4:04)

All right, some mystery there. Now, let's talk about an article in the Journal which says Nelson Peltz's Disney Consolation Prize, a $300 million gain in a recent FT piece.

The FT says Peltz likes to say that he'd rather be rich than be right. Were you rich and don't care about being right given the $300 million consolation prize?

Nelson Peltz (4:26)

Well, first of all, the number is wrong. Okay, the number is dramatically wrong.

Jim Cramer (4:33)

A billion?

Nelson Peltz (4:33)

We'd be better than that, Jim.

Jim Cramer (4:34)

How about one billion? Okay.