Disney names Carolyn Everson to board in deal with activist investor Third Point

(Reuters) -Walt Disney Co on Friday announced a truce with Third Point, saying it would appoint tech and media veteran Carolyn Everson to the board with the support of the activist investor.

The activist shareholder also agreed to not raise its stake in the entertainment and media conglomerate to over 2% and to vote in favor of the slate of directors nominated by Disney’s board. The hedge fund, led by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, announced in August it had taken a 0.4% stake in Disney worth nearly $1 billion.

Third Point will not present any proposal and vote in accordance with the board’s recommendation at any stockholder meeting until 2024, as part of the standstill provisions.

Third Point did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The fund said in August it planned to push the media company to make a string of changes, from spinning off cable sports channel ESPN to buying back shares and adding new board members.

The board needs to be refreshed to address gaps in talent and experience, the investor had said, adding that it had identified potential candidates without elaborating.

Loeb had exited his position in the company, known for its theme parks and movies like “Aladdin” and “Frozen,” months earlier when fears about rising prices and faster interest rate hikes sparked a sharp market selloff.

Everson, 50, who is on Coca-Cola’s board, has worked with Meta Platforms’ Facebook where she ran the global marketing and ad sales team at an extraordinarily prosperous period for the social media giant.

Former Meta operations chief Sheryl Sandberg was also on the Disney board but left in 2018.

Most recently, Everson was president of Instacart and her career has included leadership roles at Microsoft Corp and at Viacom, now part of Paramount Global.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Sriraj Kalluvila)