Nelson Peltz should be allowed to join Disney’s board, according to Jim Cramer

Jim Cramer of CNBC called on Disney to give Nelson Peltz, an activist investor, a seat on its board on Thursday.

“It’s the board, the stewards, who haven’t done a good job. Not the shareholders, and not Peltz. Now someone like Peltz, who’s been tremendously successful, wants to join them and they act like that’s a problem,” he said.

On Thursday, Peltz’s activist firm Trian Fund Management requested that the investor be appointed to Disney’s board of directors.

On Thursday’s episode of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Peltz explained his strategy for a proxy fight against the entertainment industry giant.

He talked about his problems with Disney, like the $71 billion acquisition of Fox in 2019 that, according to him, ruined the company’s balance sheet, the decline in shareholder value over the past few years, and what he thinks is bad corporate governance.

Cramer criticized Disney for opposing the activist investor’s bid for a seat on the board, agreeing with Peltz’s assessment of the costly acquisition of Fox and the issues with the company’s balance sheet.

Additionally, he emphasized to shareholders that a proxy fight could reduce shareholder returns.

“Lots of money, your money if you’re a shareholder like my charitable trust, will be spent to stop Nelson Peltz from joining the board … even though he’s not the guy who was involved with the disastrous Fox acquisition or the disastrous choice to make Bob Chapek the CEO,” Cramer said.