Activist Investor Nominates Two to Disney Board, Including Himself

The activist investor Nelson Peltz nominated himself and a former Walt Disney executive to the board of the Walt Disney Company on Thursday, continuing his battle with the entertainment giant over what he sees as a languishing stock price and the mishandling of its leadership succession plan.

This is Mr. Peltz’s second proxy battle with Disney in two years. Last year, he fought to get on the board, saying he would cut costs, revamp Disney’s streaming business and clean up the succession planning. Mr. Peltz withdrew his demands in February when Disney put in place a restructuring plan and made billions of dollars’ worth of cost cuts.

Mr. Peltz’s investment firm, Trian Partners, has been working on the fight with Ike Perlmutter, the former chairman of Marvel and one of Disney’s largest independent shareholders. In addition to himself, Mr. Peltz also nominated James Rasulo, who spent three decades at Disney, including as chief financial officer.

Disney said the nominations of Mr. Peltz and Mr. Rasulo would be reviewed by a committee, which would make a recommendation on their proposed candidacy to the board.

“Disney has an experienced, diverse, and highly qualified board that is focused on the long-term performance of the company, strategic growth initiatives including the ongoing transformation of its businesses, the succession planning process and increasing shareholder value,” the company said in a statement.

Shares of the company fluctuated in early trading following Mr. Peltz’s action.

Disney has been preparing for a proxy battle with Mr. Peltz. In November, the company added two power hitters to its board: James P. Gorman, Morgan Stanley’s chief executive, and Jeremy Darroch, who formerly ran the British television company Sky.