The chairman of Marvel Entertainment, Isaac Perlmutter, has been laid off as part of a cost-cutting campaign at Disney.
The New York Times reported that the 80-year-old was informed by phone on Wednesday that Marvel Entertainment would be folded into larger Disney business units, according two anonymous Disney executives.
Marvel Entertainment is a small division focused on consumer products and is run separately from Marvel Studios.
According to reports, for over ten years, Mr. Perlmutter has been causing disturbances at Disney due to his irritable and persistent behavior.
Recently, he tried to get his friend, activist investor Nelson Peltz, a seat on the Disney board. Mr. Perlmutter reached out to Disney’s board members and senior executives six times from August to November of the previous year to advocate for Mr. Peltz’s appointment, as per a securities filing.
When his efforts were unsuccessful, Mr. Peltz launched a proxy battle to join the board, pledging to reduce expenses, restructure Disney’s streaming business, and resolve the company’s poor succession planning.
Disney commenced the process of removing 7,000 job positions, which accounts for roughly 4% of its total global workforce, on Monday.
This is part of a $5.5 billion cost-cutting plan aimed at enhancing Disney’s financial performance and preparing the company for growth driven by streaming services.
