I'd be 'very, very surprised' if Peltz was successful in this proxy fight: Rosenblatt's Crockett

joining us right now with reaction to this latest development is Barton Crockett he is rosenblat Security senior analyst and uh Barton what do you think this is um a pretty big heavyweight coming out in support of Bob Iger sure um you know I think um um there's so many things that are just rolling in Iger and the Disney board's favor in this fight with pelts and the other activists um you know clearly the the company um has been on a better trajectory um certainly last quarter um you know the th

e fundamental performance um has been improving the stock uh has been recovering nicely um and now kind of the cherry on top um is a really prominent Hollywood figure um and from someone core to kind of what Disney is now uh supporting Iger and the current uh director slate so you know at this point um I'd be very very surprised um if pelts was successful um in this proxy battle is this this something that changes or did you think that does this really swing the the needle that much or you thoug

ht that was kind of the case before look I think the most important thing um is that the the business trajectory has been improved um and that the stock price um has been reflecting that um that's a number one um clearly though if someone like Lucas had come out against Iger um you know that would have been a difficult situation but that's not where we are um you know so um I think that things are you know for now looking better for Disney and Iger and the board um you know the question I would

have is longer term I mean I know that um um you know they're mainly a theme park company and the theme park business I think is on a great trajectory um but they've got a lot of exposure to pay TV and those difficulties the court cutting that's not going away um the movie business is more difficult than it was um and uh um you know so while they're doing better now if they don't sustain the activists will be back so uh there may be a sequel I think to this story you think there's a solution uh

to be found in the cord cutting business because that's something that's much bigger than just a Disney problem it is much bigger than just a Disney problem and you know our belief is that ultimately the entertainment conglomerates including Disney uh are kind of faced pressure to break up um you know I think that the the payv exposed businesses like the TV stations ABC uh you know the fox FX cable networks um those are businesses that are going to be declining uh and that might fit best you kno

w within the portfolio of someone who focuses on that you know private Equity or or you know someone of that ilk um I think the sports businesses um are going to Trend towards the big Tech platforms which um have the money um have the balance sheets have the business models um that are kind of Next Generation Um so I think it's going to be difficult long term for TV conglomerates like even Disney even ESP end to stay competitive uh in sports and we'll see a big test of that coming up with the NB

A um you know so uh splitting off of those types of businesses I think makes a lot of sense for Disney and the other conglomerates I don't think Disney's going there today um but if the fundamental challenges recur and the activists come back um there could be more focus on that in the future paron I don't know I don't know if you saw the story yet it was something I I just saw earlier this morning about Mr Beast who's an internet sensation signing a deal with Amazon Prime for a game show where

the pricee is going to be $5 million and I thought wow um is that the future totally the future um I've got kids anyone who's got kids understands Mr Beast is much much bigger than anything else you're going to find on TV so that's huge for Amazon um and um that's that's an arena where you know Amazon can write the check Amazon can monetize it um Disney's not there today so more of that in the future um and that's really what Disney's swimming against if it wants to compete um in this type of uh

venue