Disney called the removal of Marvel Entertainment Chair Ike Perlmutter a cost-cutting move, but the billionaire businessman says he was flat-out fired.
Perlmutter, 80, told The Wall Street Journal he was fired for butting heads with creative executives while challenging Disney's flagrant overspending in his division.
"I have no doubt that my termination was based on fundamental differences in business between my thinking and Disney leadership, because I care about return on investment," Perlmutter told the Journal, echoing his statement after his removal.
Perlmutter, who sold Marvel to Disney in 2009, remains one of Disney's largest individual shareholders with 30 million shares worth about $3 billion.
"All they talk about is box office, box office," Perlmutter said. "I care about the bottom line. I don't care how big the box office is. Only people in Hollywood talk about box office."
Politics may have also played a role in Perlmutter's abrupt departure from the company he turned into a multi-billion dollar enterprise.
Perlmutter was an outspoken supporter of Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis' effort to remove political indoctrination, ideology, and activism from Disney through an attempt to terminate its sweetheart self-governance deal in the state.
"Ron, you're right: Disney doesn't have the right to get involved with politics," Perlmutter, who also had ties with former President Donald Trump, said he told DeSantis on a call.
Under Perlmutter, Disney's Marvel superhero movies grossed more than $23 billion, one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood history, but still Disney's removal of 7,000 jobs to cut $5.5 billion from its operating expense was the reason Disney general counsel Horacio Gutierrez gave to Perlmutter for his firing, a Disney representative told the Journal.
"It was merely a convenient excuse to get rid of a longtime executive who dared to challenge the company's way of doing business," Perlmutter told the Journal, denying Gutierrez giving him that reason for his firing.
Disney is said to have bristled when Perlmutter joined with billionaire investor Nelson Peltz in seeking more cost cuts.
Perlmutter lobbied Disney to have Peltz join the company's board.
"My experience with any major corporation, when they're having problems and they don't have the free cash or whatever it is, usually people like Nelson Peltz know how to put it back on track," Perlmutter said.
"I learned one thing about creative people my whole life: You cannot give them an open credit card."
CEO Bob Iger has returned to the role after being briefly replaced by former CEO Bob Chapek.
"Last summer, Mr. Perlmutter said, he found an ally in his crusade to cut Disney's spending in Mr. Peltz, a well-known corporate raider-turned-activist investor who in December launched a proxy battle against Disney. The two men, who own mansions near one another in Palm Beach, Fla., had been friends for years and regularly dined together with their wives," the Journal reported.
But dropping Perlmutter suggests the cost-savings approach may not be Iger's focus.
"Ike's a penny pincher," former Marvel Entertainment Chair Morton Handel said. "It's irritating to some people, and there are some people who don't believe in that manner of running a business. But in my own experience, I have never come across a more effective manager than Ike Perlmutter."
Perlmutter remains adamant Disney executives should avoid the political minefield.
"Don't get involved in politics," Perlmutter warned, he told the Journal. "You're going to get hurt. It's a no-win situation."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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