The move was supported by activist investor Third Point which called on Disney to “refresh” the board.
As part of a truce with activist investor Third Point, Walt Disney Co has said it will appoint tech and media veteran Carolyn Everson to its board of directors.
“Her appointment has received the support of Third Point LLC, which has entered into a support agreement with Disney following a constructive dialogue,” the company said in a statement, adding that “Third Point has agreed to (a) customary standstill, voting and other provisions through Disney’s 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.”
Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company added: “We have a productive and collegial relationship with Third Point, with whom we share a deep commitment to continue building on Disney’s many successes and increasing shareholder value.”
Everson most recently served as President of grocery delivery company Instacart. Prior to that, she was Vice President of the Global Business Group at Facebook, now known as Meta, where she led the global marketing solutions team focused on strategic accounts and global agencies, as well as media strategy, advertising sales, and account management from 2011-2021. Prior to that, Everson was corporate vice president of the Global Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing Teams at Microsoft.
“We are pleased with our productive and ongoing dialogue with Bob and Disney’s management team,” said Daniel S. Loeb, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer, Third Point.
“The expansion of Disney’s Board of Directors to include Carolyn Everson will add an important new perspective to an already accomplished group.”
The activist investor Loeb recently backed off his proposal for Disney to divest itself of ESPN to devote more resources to content creation for its streaming platforms.
We have a better understanding of @espn's potential as a standalone business and another vertical for $DIS to reach a global audience to generate ad and subscriber revenues. We look forward to seeing Mr. Pitaro execute on the growth contd. https://t.co/Gobvf8KS2w
— Daniel S. Loeb (@DanielSLoeb1) September 11, 2022
Commenting on her appointment to the Disney board Everson said: “I am incredibly excited and honored to join The Walt Disney Company’s Board and work alongside the outstanding directors and extraordinarily talented management team.”
Everson serves on the boards of The Coca-Cola Company, Creative Artists Agency, Villanova University, the Humane Society of the United States, and Columbia Medical School.
Discussion about this post