The Disney+ website on a laptop in the Brooklyn borough of New York, U.S. on Monday, July 18, 2022.
Gaby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Disney has reached a deal with activist investor Dan Loeb’s Third Point that includes the addition of former Meta executive Carolyn Everson to its board, the companies announced Friday.
The deal comes weeks after Third Point took a new stake in Disney valued at around $1 billion, or 0.4% of the company, and urged the media company to expand its sports property, ESPN.
Initially, Loeb said the breakup from ESPN would give Disney more flexibility to pursue sports betting and other business initiatives. However, soon after, Loeb reversed course.
“We have a better understanding of the potential for @espn as a standalone business and another vertical for $DIS to reach a global audience to drive ad and subscription revenue,” Loeb said earlier this month. here in a tweet.
On Friday, Disney said in a public filing that with support from Third Point, it would add Everson to its board before its November board meeting.
As part of the deal, Third Point agreed to certain standstill provisions, including that it would not take an equity stake in Disney greater than 2% and that it would not solicit proxies or submit proposals. Third Point will also not participate in board appointments, according to the filing.
Everson was at Meta, formerly Facebook, for more than 10 years, where she served as the social media platform’s head of ads. Although Everson was considered one of the most high-profile women – alongside former Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg – she left the company after Marne Levine was promoted to chief executive. business last summer.
Most recently, she had a brief stint as president of grocery delivery service Instacart, which she left after just three months. At the time, Instacart and Everson told CNBC the decision to leave was mutual.
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