Just as Walt Disney Co. announced last week that Chairman Susan Arnold would step off the board after a 15-year run as a director, activist investor Nelson Peltz made public his all-out war against the company.
Queue the palace intrigue. Was Arnold leaving as a concession to Peltz? Or because she wants no part in the nasty proxy battle that’s likely brewing? It’s possible that a bit of both is true. But the overriding factor, and the one Disney has publicly pointed to, is much more boring: term limits. Disney’s board tenure policy caps director service at 15 years, and Arnold’s time simply was up.
