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    Citing changes at Disney, Nelson Peltz ends push for seat on board

    By SHOOTUpdated:No Comments845 Views
    Trian Partners hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz is interviewed by CNBC's Sara Eisen after Procter & Gamble's annual shareholders meeting, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017, in Cincinnati. (Kareem Elgazzar/The Cincinnati Enquirer via AP)

    By Michelle Chapman

    --

    Activist investor Nelson Peltz has called off a proxy fight with Disney one day after newly returned CEO Bob Iger announced a major restructuring of the company that includes thousands of job cuts.

    Peltz phoned into CNBC on Thursday to say that his firm, Trian Fund Management, got everything it wanted with the changes imposed by Iger.

    "We will be watching, we will be rooting, and the proxy fight is over," Peltz said.

    Peltz last month announced that he would seek a seat on the board of the entertainment company, citing a failed succession after Iger departed about two years ago and named Bob Chapek as his replacement. Peltz cited "over-the-top" compensation for executives and other issues.

    Disney on Wednesday said that it would cut about 7,000 jobs as part of an ambitious companywide cost-savings plan and "strategic reorganization."

    The job cuts amount to about 3% of the entertainment giant's global workforce and were unveiled after Disney reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street's forecasts.

    That was apparently good enough for Peltz, who launched a fight for a board seat even after Chapek was ousted and Iger returned.

    The company, which owns Star Wars, Marvel and Pixar, said this week that it will focus more on its core brands and franchises, Iger said.

    The executive also announced changes to how executives will operate Disney's various divisions. Specifically, creative executives will now be responsible for determining what movies, TV series or other content to produce, as well as the marketing and distribution.

    Shares of Disney, based in Burbank, California, rose 2% Thursday.

    Iger had handpicked Chapek as his successor, whose two-year tenure was marked by clashes, missteps and a weakening financial performance. Iger's return to Disney and ousting of Chapek came just a couple of weeks after Disney's quarterly financial performance fell well short of Wall Street expectations on both profit and revenue, a rarity.

    While Disney's theme parks business has been performing well, many visitors over the past two years have been highly critical of increased prices and other moves that the company made, including the end of the Magical Express bus service from the airport in Orlando, Florida to Walt Disney World resorts, the implementation of the Genie planning and ride reservation system and its theme park reservation system.

    Michelle Chapman is an AP business writer

    Tags:Bob IgerDisneyNelson Peltz



    Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died

    Saturday, December 21, 2024
    Suchir Balaji poses for a photo in Hawaii in 2018. Balaji was a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who died in November 2024. (Balaji Ramamurthy via AP)

    Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26.

    Balaji worked at OpenAI for nearly four years before quitting in August. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI's strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products.

    "We are devastated to learn of this incredibly sad news and our hearts go out to Suchir's loved ones during this difficult time," said a statement from OpenAI.

    Balaji was found dead in his San Francisco apartment on Nov. 26 in what police said "appeared to be a suicide. No evidence of foul play was found during the initial investigation." The city's chief medical examiner's office confirmed the manner of death to be suicide.

    His parents Poornima Ramarao and Balaji Ramamurthy said they are still seeking answers, describing their son as a "happy, smart and brave young man" who loved to hike and recently returned from a trip with friends.

    Balaji grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and first arrived at the fledgling AI research lab for a 2018 summer internship while studying computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned a few years later to work at OpenAI, where one of his first projects, called WebGPT, helped pave the way for ChatGPT.

    "Suchir's contributions to this project were essential, and it wouldn't have succeeded without him," said OpenAI co-founder John Schulman in a social media post memorializing Balaji. Schulman, who recruited Balaji to his team, said what... Read More

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