Marvel Ex-Chairman Ike Perlmutter Reportedly Sold His Entire Disney Stake for Nearly $3 Billion After Unsuccessful Board Fight

Ike Perlmutter, the former Marvel Entertainment chairman who was ousted last year, sold all of his Disney stock — about 25.6 million shares — for almost $3 billion, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

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Perlmutter, who was among the largest individual shareholders in the Mouse House, sold his stake in Disney between early April and mid-July at an average price of just under $115/share, per the report. Through a rep, Perlmutter declined to provide additional comment. Disney did not respond to a request for comment.

Perlmutter had pooled his Disney holdings with Trian Partners, led by activist investor Nelson Peltz, who had staged a pricey and ultimately unsuccessful proxy fight to win two seats on Disney’s board. In the days following the April 3 shareholder vote in which Disney investors voted down Trian’s board nominees, Peltz had cashed out of Disney’s stock to reap $1 billion , per a CNBC report.

Disney had characterized Trian’s campaign as fueled by a “longstanding personal agenda” harbored by Perlmutter against Iger, who last year fired Perlmutter.

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According to the Journal story, Perlmutter said he expects Disney’s stock to continue to drop — and that if the share price falls to $65-$75 per share, he plans to repurchase much of his previous stock holdings. (Disney shares closed down 3.4% on Tuesday to $90.94 per share.) Perlmutter had become a major shareholder in Disney when he sold Marvel Entertainment to the media conglomerate for more than $4 billion in 2009. Perlmutter took control of Marvel in the 1990s when the comic-book publisher was in the throes of bankruptcy and it was folded into Toy Biz, a toy company co-run by Perlmutter and Avi Arad.

As Marvel chairman, Perlmutter famously fought Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige over making “Black Panther” and “Captain Marvel” — on the belief that movies with Black or women lead characters would not be commercially successful — until Iger intervened to overrule Perlmutter.

Variety reported last year that Perlmutter decision to back Peltz’s original proxy fight with Disney was due at least in part to Iger’s decision to sever Perlmutter’s control over Marvel Studios in 2015, which eventually reduced Marvel Entertainment to not much more than consumer products and comic book publishing. Perlmutter and Peltz are neighbors in the wealthy enclave of Palm Beach, Fla., which is also home to Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

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