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Disney Executive Pay Squeaks By at New CEO’s First Meeting

Disney Executive Pay Squeaks By at New CEO’s First Meeting

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. shareholders greeted new Chief Executive Officer Bob Chapek at the entertainment giant’s annual meeting by narrowly approving its executive compensation plan.

Only 53% of shareholders approved the plan in a nonbinding vote, down from 57% last year. Three major advisory firms had recommended that shareholders reject the proposal, saying Disney’s executive pay was higher than peers’ and wasn’t sufficiently linked to company performance. Disney’s board disagreed with those conclusions.

Bob Iger, who now serves as executive chairman following a 15-year stint as CEO, opened the meeting Wednesday in Raleigh, North Carolina, with words about the coronavirus. “We’re all sobered by the concern that we feel for everyone affected by this global crisis,” he said.

Iger noted that Disney has endured wars, economic downturns and other challenges in its nearly 100-year history. “What we’ve demonstrated repeatedly over the years is that we are incredibly resilient,” he said.

Iger handed the reins to Chapek last month. His retirement had been expected for years, but the timing and the choice of successor still came as a surprise. Chapek, a 27-year company veteran, previously ran the company’s theme parks. He was one of several executives on the short list of potential candidates.

Easy Names

During a question-and-answer segment at the annual meeting, Chapek and Iger traded responses to shareholder queries, with the latter joking that the company intentionally chose chief executives with the same first name.

“We did this so that you can easily remember our names,” Iger said.

Chapek defended gay-pride events at the company’s parks, saying they reflect the diversity of the company’s customers and what they want.

After a conservative public-policy researcher said ABC News’s coverage of President Donald Trump was biased, Chapek said one of his first trips as CEO was to visit the company’s newsroom. “ABC has a stellar track record of being objective in reporting the news and it will continue in the future,” he said.

Iger responded to a shareholder asking why the 1946 film “Song of the South,” which features racial stereotypes, couldn’t be put on the company’s new Disney+ streaming service with a disclaimer.

“It was just not appropriate in today’s world,” Iger said. “It’s just hard, given the depictions in some of those films, to bring them out today in some form or another without offending people.”

All of the company’s directors were re-elected by at least 92% of the vote, and shareholders rejected a proposal for the company to make more disclosures about its lobbying spending.

The company also announced it would premiere a Beatles documentary from director Peter Jackson on Sept. 4 in theaters, and that its new Avengers Campus attraction would open July 18 at the California Adventure park in Anaheim, California.

Disney holds in its annual meeting in a different city every year, to give a variety of shareholders of the widely held company a chance to attend and to showcase local businesses. Disney owns the ABC TV station in Raleigh.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, John J. Edwards III

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