在与迪士尼董事会的持续斗争中,亿万富翁投资人尼尔森·佩尔茨抽时间开启了另一场战斗——起诉他女儿明星婚礼的其中一家策划公司。
4月8日,佩尔茨的女儿、好莱坞女演员尼古拉嫁给了著名足球运动员贝克汉姆和流行歌手维多利亚的儿子布鲁克林,在佩尔茨位于佛罗里达的海滨庄园举行了一场奢华的婚礼。
据报道,这场婚礼邀请了500名明星嘉宾,包括戈登·拉姆齐、史努比·狗狗、哈里王子夫妇等,当然也包括注重时尚的贝克汉姆一家。婚礼众星云集,场面盛大,这对夫妇因此卖掉了结婚照的版权,登上了Vogue杂志的封面。
但在奢华的庆祝活动和风光高调的来宾背后,佩尔茨不得不雇用不止一家,也不是两家,而是三家婚礼策划公司。据说其中一家干得实在太差,甚至于被这位身价14亿美元的投资大佬告上法庭。
佩尔茨12月30日在迈阿密提起的诉讼中称,在佩尔茨决定与第一间策划公司分道扬镳后,被接手的新公司“蒙蔽了”。诉状显示,被告的婚礼策划公司是总部位于迈阿密的Plan Design Events,简称PDE,受雇时婚礼的大部分准备工作已经完成,剩下的就是组织策划嘉宾名单,敲定与一些供应商的合同。
但诉讼中称,该策划公司无法完成剩下的任何一项任务,导致佩尔茨“浪费了九天时间来应付PDE,而不是一家称职的婚礼策划公司”。佩尔茨声称,该公司“对自身能力的陈述严重失实”,并且“缺乏履职的必备技能”。他还指责PDE多次超出最后时限,多次不参加约定会议等。后来,他们在最后一刻雇用了第三家策划公司,才确保婚礼如期举行。
诉讼中的证物包括佩尔茨的律师发给PDE的一封信,信中称PDE不愿退还投资者15.9万美元的定金。佩尔茨还要求该公司赔偿3万美元,这还不包括利息和会计费用。
佩尔茨的法律团队和Plan Design Events都没有立刻回应《财富》杂志就此案的置评请求。
不过,对这位亿万富翁来说,起诉婚礼策划公司不太可能是他现在最关心的事。目前,他正通过自己的投资公司特里安(Trian)与迪士尼董事会展开代理权之争,原因是迪士尼董事会拒绝任命他为董事会成员。
今年1月,佩尔茨要求进入迪士尼董事会,说凭他一个人就可以将公司从过度支出的“危机”中救出,他还批评迪士尼最近的首席执行官更替方案,反对前首席执行官鲍勃·伊格尔重新执掌公司,称这说明了继任计划的失败。股东大会将在今年晚些时候投票选举董事会成员,佩尔茨正试图在此之前抢去董事会提名人迈克尔•弗罗曼的风头。
迪士尼坚决反对任命佩尔茨,并在上个月一场题为《当前的迪士尼董事会是股东的正确选择》的演示文稿中驳斥了他的提议。董事会在文稿中称,佩尔茨“不了解迪士尼业务,缺乏协助董事会的技能和经验。”
周四,特里安向美国证券交易委员会提交了另一封信,呼吁迪士尼股东投票支持佩尔茨,称弗罗曼“在迪士尼之外没有担任上市公司董事的经验”,而佩尔茨“在过去几年里曾在许多上市公司董事会任职”。
迪士尼董事会周四在一份声明中重申了对佩尔茨的指责,并呼吁股东“现阶段不要采取任何行动,直接扔掉他们可能从特里安集团收到的任何材料或蓝色代理卡。”(财富中文网)
译者:Agatha
在与迪士尼董事会的持续斗争中,亿万富翁投资人尼尔森·佩尔茨抽时间开启了另一场战斗——起诉他女儿明星婚礼的其中一家策划公司。
4月8日,佩尔茨的女儿、好莱坞女演员尼古拉嫁给了著名足球运动员贝克汉姆和流行歌手维多利亚的儿子布鲁克林,在佩尔茨位于佛罗里达的海滨庄园举行了一场奢华的婚礼。
据报道,这场婚礼邀请了500名明星嘉宾,包括戈登·拉姆齐、史努比·狗狗、哈里王子夫妇等,当然也包括注重时尚的贝克汉姆一家。婚礼众星云集,场面盛大,这对夫妇因此卖掉了结婚照的版权,登上了Vogue杂志的封面。
但在奢华的庆祝活动和风光高调的来宾背后,佩尔茨不得不雇用不止一家,也不是两家,而是三家婚礼策划公司。据说其中一家干得实在太差,甚至于被这位身价14亿美元的投资大佬告上法庭。
佩尔茨12月30日在迈阿密提起的诉讼中称,在佩尔茨决定与第一间策划公司分道扬镳后,被接手的新公司“蒙蔽了”。诉状显示,被告的婚礼策划公司是总部位于迈阿密的Plan Design Events,简称PDE,受雇时婚礼的大部分准备工作已经完成,剩下的就是组织策划嘉宾名单,敲定与一些供应商的合同。
但诉讼中称,该策划公司无法完成剩下的任何一项任务,导致佩尔茨“浪费了九天时间来应付PDE,而不是一家称职的婚礼策划公司”。佩尔茨声称,该公司“对自身能力的陈述严重失实”,并且“缺乏履职的必备技能”。他还指责PDE多次超出最后时限,多次不参加约定会议等。后来,他们在最后一刻雇用了第三家策划公司,才确保婚礼如期举行。
诉讼中的证物包括佩尔茨的律师发给PDE的一封信,信中称PDE不愿退还投资者15.9万美元的定金。佩尔茨还要求该公司赔偿3万美元,这还不包括利息和会计费用。
佩尔茨的法律团队和Plan Design Events都没有立刻回应《财富》杂志就此案的置评请求。
不过,对这位亿万富翁来说,起诉婚礼策划公司不太可能是他现在最关心的事。目前,他正通过自己的投资公司特里安(Trian)与迪士尼董事会展开代理权之争,原因是迪士尼董事会拒绝任命他为董事会成员。
今年1月,佩尔茨要求进入迪士尼董事会,说凭他一个人就可以将公司从过度支出的“危机”中救出,他还批评迪士尼最近的首席执行官更替方案,反对前首席执行官鲍勃·伊格尔重新执掌公司,称这说明了继任计划的失败。股东大会将在今年晚些时候投票选举董事会成员,佩尔茨正试图在此之前抢去董事会提名人迈克尔•弗罗曼的风头。
迪士尼坚决反对任命佩尔茨,并在上个月一场题为《当前的迪士尼董事会是股东的正确选择》的演示文稿中驳斥了他的提议。董事会在文稿中称,佩尔茨“不了解迪士尼业务,缺乏协助董事会的技能和经验。”
周四,特里安向美国证券交易委员会提交了另一封信,呼吁迪士尼股东投票支持佩尔茨,称弗罗曼“在迪士尼之外没有担任上市公司董事的经验”,而佩尔茨“在过去几年里曾在许多上市公司董事会任职”。
迪士尼董事会周四在一份声明中重申了对佩尔茨的指责,并呼吁股东“现阶段不要采取任何行动,直接扔掉他们可能从特里安集团收到的任何材料或蓝色代理卡。”(财富中文网)
译者:Agatha
In the middle of an ongoing fight with Disney’s board, billionaire investor Nelson Peltz has found time to pick another battle—with one of the planners behind his daughter’s celebrity wedding.
Peltz’s daughter Nicola, a Hollywood actress, married Brooklyn Beckham, son of famous soccer player David and pop star Victoria Beckham on April 8 in an opulent wedding at Peltz’s Florida beachfront estate.
The event featured an A-list roster of 500 celebrity guests, reportedly including Gordon Ramsey, Snoop Dogg, and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The event and guest list—which of course included the entire fashion-conscious Beckham family—was such a happening that the couple sold the rights to their wedding photos to appear on the cover of Vogue.
But behind the lavish festivities and slew of high-profile attendees, Peltz had to go through not one, not two, but three planners. And one of them allegedly did such a bad job that the investor, who is worth $1.4 billion, has filed a lawsuit.
After Peltz decided to part ways with the wedding’s first planner, he was “hoodwinked” by the new firm’s replacement, Peltz alleges in a lawsuit filed December 30 in Miami. The wedding planner in question, Miami-based Plan Design Events, or PDE, was hired after most of the wedding preparations had already been completed, according to the lawsuit, and all that remained to be done was curating the RSVP list and ironing out deals with certain vendors.
But the replacement planner was allegedly unable to complete any of the remaining tasks, causing Peltz to “waste nine days dealing with PDE in lieu of a competent wedding planner,” according to the suit. Peltz alleged the company had “seriously misrepresented their skills and abilities” and “lacked the necessary skills to perform.” He also accused PDE of missing multiple deadlines and failing to attend scheduled meetings. A third planner was eventually hired at the 11th hour to bring the wedding over the line.
The lawsuit includes as an exhibit a letter sent by Peltz’s lawyers to the company that claims PDE was unwilling to refund the investor’s $159,000 deposit. Peltz is also asking for $30,000 in damages from the wedding planner, not including interest and accounting fees.
Neither Peltz’s legal team nor Plan Design Events immediately responded to Fortune’s request for comment about the case.
A lawsuit against a wedding planner is unlikely to be top of mind for the billionaire, however. He’s currently involved in a proxy fight through his investment firm, Trian, against Disney’s board over their refusal to install him as a board member.
Peltz requested to be named on the company’s board in January, saying he alone could rescue it from its “crisis” of overspending while criticizing Disney for its recent CEO turnover and the return of former CEO Bob Iger’s to lead the company, claiming it spoke to a failed succession plan. Peltz is seeking to upstage Michael Froman, a nominee to the board, before shareholders convene to vote on members later this year.
Disney staunchly opposes installing Peltz, rebuking his offer last month in a presentation titled: “The current Disney board is the right one for shareholders.” In it, the board claimed Peltz “does not understand Disney’s businesses and lacks the skills and experience to assist the board.”
On Thursday, Trian issued another letter filed with the SEC urging Disney shareholders to vote for Peltz, claiming Froman “has no experience as a public company director outside Disney,” while Peltz has “served on numerous public company boards over the last several years.
Disney’s board responded by reiterating its rebuke of Peltz in a statement on Thursday and urged shareholders to “take no action at the moment and to simply discard any materials or blue proxy card they may receive from Trian Group.”