Axios editor shares view on Disney reinstating dividend after three years

Shares of the Walt Disney Co (NYSE: DIS) are slightly in the red on Friday even though the mass media giant reinstated the dividend it had suspended some three years ago.

Disney to pay 30 cents a share in dividend

The announcement arrives only a day after Nelson Peltz of Trian Partners pushed for two board seats at the entertainment conglomerate as Invezz reported here.

Still, Axios editor Michael Flaherty says Disney announcing 30 cents a share of dividend may not necessarily be related to the looming proxy fight with the activist investor.

He did, however, agree that the New York listed firm has “made it very clear that it doesn’t want [Peltz] on the board”.  

Last month, Disney reported quarterly profit that topped Street estimates and said it’s now aiming for another $2.0 billion in savings out of its cost-cutting initiatives.

Peltz hasn’t particularly proposed a solution

Flaherty does not see much “room for negotiation and settlement” between Nelson Peltz and the Walt Disney Co at present.

Today on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”, he said the activist investor would need support from a lot of shareholders to get on the board of Disney. Whether or not it’ll succeed in receiving that endorsement remain a question particularly because Peltz has not so far proposed a “unique” solution, Flaherty added.

The Axios editor expects ValueAct – another activist investor with interest in Disney to side with the company’s management over Nelson Peltz. $DIS is currently down over 10% versus its year-to-date high.