The move to lay off Perlmutter is part of Marvel Entertainment's cost-cutting campaign. — Bloomberg
LOS ANGELES: Walt Disney Co has laid off Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter as part of a cost-cutting campaign, a source confirms.
Perlmutter, 80, had supported activist shareholder Nelson Peltz’s unsuccessful bid this year to obtain a seat on Disney’s corporate board. The executive was informed by phone Wednesday that Marvel Entertainment, a small division within the company responsible for comic book publishing and some consumer products, would be merged into larger Disney business units, according to a second source with knowledge of the matter.
Perlmutter could not be immediately reached for comment. Dan Buckley, president of Marvel Entertainment, will remain and report to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, the second source said. Disney began to eliminate 7,000 jobs on Monday, in an effort to save US$5.5bil (RM24.3bil) in costs and make its streaming business profitable.
Perlmutter, who outmaneuvered billionaire Carl Icahn for control of the comic book publisher in the late 1990s, sold Marvel to Disney for US$4bil (RM18bil) in 2009. — Reuters
