Cramer reacts to Nelson Peltz pushing for two board seats at Disney

Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) is trending down at writing following reports that Nelson Peltz is pushing for two seats on its board.

Nelson Peltz has a sizable stake in Disney

The activist investor is the founder of Trian Partners – an investment management firm that currently holds over $2.0 billion worth of Disney shares.

Peltz wanted to see how the entertainment conglomerate performs in its fourth financial quarter before concluding if such a move indeed was required, as per CNBC that first reported the news today.

Earlier in November, the Walt Disney Co said its quarterly revenue came in shy of Street estimates and added another $2.0 billion to the overall savings it wants to derive out of its cost-cutting initiatives.  

Shares of the mass media behemoth are currently down about 10% versus their year-to-date high.

Disney recently added new directors to board

The announcement arrives only a day after Disney added James P. Gorman (Morgan Stanley CEO) and Jeremy Darroch (former Sky TV CEO) to its board.

Many believe the move was an attempt to avoid a proxy fight with Nelson Peltz. Still, famed investor Jim Cramer said this morning on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street”:

Note that Peltz was interested in a proxy fight with Disney in February as well. He later ditched that plan, however, after CEO Bob Iger laid out a strategy that eased his initial concerns (read more). Wall Street currently has a consensus “overweight” rating on $DIS.