Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter — the billionaire who sold Marvel Entertainment to Disney in 2009 and who has long been known for his clashes with CEO Bob Iger — has been forced out as part of job cuts at the company.
The 80-year-old Perlmutter was informed on Wednesday that Marvel Entertainment, a division centered on consumer products where Perlmutter was chairman and was run separately from Marvel Studios, was “redundant” and would be “folded into larger Disney business units,” according to the New York Times.
Disney confirmed the exit.
Iger this week began slashing 7,000 jobs or about 4% of its global footprint, as part of $5.5 billion in cuts to juice Disney’s financial results.
Perlmutter — an Israeli-born toy entrepreneur known to carry a gun in a leg holster, and who claimed to have kicked off his business career in the US with $250 in his pocket — could not be immediately reached for comment.
The exec recently pushed for friend and activist investor Nelson Peltz to join the Disney board. The notoriously aggressive Perlmutter contacted Disney board members and senior execs six times from last August to November to urge Peltz to join the Mouse House’s board, according to a securities filing.
When he had no luck, Peltz launched a proxy battle to install himself on the board, vowing he would cut costs and revamp Disney’s money-losing streaming business, as well as fix the company’s failed succession planning.
Peltz withdrew in February when Iger returned to the helm of Disney with a plan to restructure, cut costs and likely restore Disney’s dividend.
The move had put Perlmutter’s future into question ahead of the cuts.
On Wednesday, Disney also laid off Rob Steffens, co-president of Marvel Entertainment, and John Turitzin, chief counsel for the division.
The Times reported that Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment, will remain at Disney and report to Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios.
Previously, Buckley reported both to him and Perlmutter.
Perlmutter sold Marvel to Disney in 2009 for $4 billion. In the late ’90s, the exec gained control of the company, which is known for blockbusters like the “Avengers” franchise, “Black Panther” and the “Iron Man” films.
Under Perlmutter, Marvel greatly expanded its merchandising business by licensing properties like “X-Men” and “Spider-Man” to movie studios.
Iger recently said in an interview with CNBC that Permutter was intent on firing Feige, which he stopped — an intervention that reportedly outraged Perlmutter.
Feige reorganized the Marvel Studios, centralizing the film division under himself with Perlmutter overseeing the TV division.
Perlmutter lost oversight of Marvel TV shows in 2019, and found himself limited to smaller businesses like comics publishing and certain consumer products until recently.
But over the years, Perlmutter’s involvement has waned. He has not been involved with any Marvel flicks since 2015 after a feud with Feige.
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