Query: Who do the Star Wars creator George Lucas and JPMorgan Chase’s star CEO and chairman Jamie Dimon have in frequent?
Reply: Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson, additionally certainly one of Fortune’s most powerful women.
Hobson was the first Black woman to affix JPMorgan’s board, in 2018, and has served as co-CEO of Chicago-headquartered funding agency Ariel Investments, which has almost $15 billion in property beneath administration, since 2019. Hobson married Lucas in 2013 at Skywalker Ranch.
Lucas issued a statement from the ranch at this time, outlining his help for Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger in Disney’s proxy struggle with activist investor Nelson Peltz. Iger and Peltz have been embroiled in a battle for board seats on the leisure large, with Peltz aiming to get himself and a deputy on the board whereas Disney performs protection. Lucas owns 37.1 million shares of Disney after promoting Lucasfilm to the corporate in 2012 for $4 billion in cash and stock.
Lucas’ encouragement from Skywalker Ranch comes on the heels of Dimon’s full-throated support for Iger final week.
“Bob is a first-class executive and outstanding leader who I’ve known for decades,” Dimon stated. “He knows the media and entertainment business cold and has the successful track record to prove it.”
“When Bob recently returned to the company during a difficult time, I was relieved,” stated Lucas at this time. “No one knows Disney better.”
After Lucas and Hobson wed on the Skywalker Ranch ceremony in 2013, the couple additionally held a celebration in Promontory Park in Chicago, according to Vogue. Prince carried out reside with a 22-piece orchestra and at one level pulled Hobson onstage. One of many company reported to be on the celebration was former Chicagoan Dimon. Dimon is former CEO of Chicago-based Financial institution One, which merged with JPMorgan in 2004. Dimon was tapped to guide the now $3.2 trillion monetary providers agency.
Along with Lucas and Dimon, proxy advisory agency Glass Lewis issued its report back to buyers this week and threw its help behind Iger and the Disney board, recommending that buyers withhold help from Peltz and his deputy and nominees from one other activist fund, Blackwells.
Voting within the contest has already begun and shedding the help of Glass Lewis is a key loss for Peltz and a win for Iger and Disney. The corporate’s shareholder assembly is April 3.
