Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter says he clashed with executives because he wanted to cut costs

Former Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter said he was recently fired for pushing too aggressively to cut costs within the Walt Disney Corporation.

In a new interview with The Wall Street JournalPerlmutter, 80, said his desire to save the company money — along with his notoriously sour relationships with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige — cost him his position.

“I have no doubt that my firing was based on fundamental differences between my mindset and Disney’s leadership, because I care about return on investment,” Perlmutter said.

Perlmutter said that years before he was fired, he tried to get Disney to spend less on Marvel’s superhero movies, saying he found them too expensive and too long.

Another point of contention could be his association with Nelson Peltz – who launched a proxy fight with Disney in 2022 – and his help in trying to get Peltz on the board.

The former chairman is one of Disney’s largest individual stakeholders, with approximately 30 million shares of stock in the company – an estimated $3 billion investment.

According to Perlmutter, Disney executives focus on ticket sales when it comes to Marvel movies and their budgets. He said this is an aspect of the industry he doesn’t care about.

“All they talk about is box office, box office,” said Perlmutter, who at one point was in charge of comic book publishing and licensing.

‘It’s about the bottom line. I don’t care how big the cash register is. Only people in Hollywood talk about box office,” he continued.

To date, Marvel’s films have grossed more than $23 billion worldwide.

During his firing, Perlmutter said Disney general counsel Horacio Gutierrez told him his position was being terminated due to cost cutting.

Gutierrez reportedly said his position was part of Disney and Iger’s plan to cut about $5.5 billion and an estimated 7,000 jobs.

As for the rationale, the longtime Marvel employee said he was given no further explanation. However, he said he knows the true reasoning.

“It was just a convenient excuse to get rid of a former executive who dared to challenge the company’s way of doing business,” Perlmutter told the outlet.

Perlmutter may also have been banned for his connection to Peltz, whose proxy battle ended in February when Iger announced cost saving measures.

Marvel Entertainment’s formal executive said he was not directly involved in Peltz’s war against the company, but he has helped lobby Disney board members to add Peltz to the board.

He hoped that bringing in Peltz could help his ideas be heard and reverberated.

“My experience with a big company, when they’re in trouble and they don’t have the free money or whatever, usually people like Nelson Peltz know how to get it back on track,” Perlmutter said.

“One thing I’ve learned all my life about creative people: you can’t give them an outstanding credit card….They’ve been doing this for 30 years, why should they change?” he continued.

A former Marvel Entertainment employee said that despite Perlmutter’s “penny pinching” ways, his methods were “effective.”

“Ike is a penny pincher,” said former Marvel chairman Morton Handel.

“Some people find it annoying, and there are people who don’t believe in that way of doing business. But in my own experience I have never come across a more effective manager than Ike Perlmutter,” Handel continued.

Yet another bone of contention was Perlmutter’s stance on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which Disney spoke out against.

Perlmutter told the Wall Street Journal that he told the Republican governor that he believed he was right about Disney staying out of politics.

Ron, you’re right. Disney has no right to get involved in politics,” Perlmutter said.

Since Disney leaders spoke out, DeSantis has worked to strip the company of some of its power and influence in the tax district in which the theme parks are located.

Perlmutter said he foresaw the backlash and tried to warn against taking a stand.

“Don’t get involved in politics. You’re going to get hurt. It’s a non-profit situation,” he told other business leaders.

This certainly wasn’t the first time the Israeli expatriate who came to the US destitute in the 1960s has run afoul of company executives.

After buying Marvel out of bankruptcy in the 1990s and selling the brand to Disney for $4 billion in 2009, he later stayed on to run the newly formed Marvel Studios.

In 2015, Iger removed Perlmutter from his position, causing Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios to part ways over a dispute involving Feige, who was executive producer at the time.

In a February interview, Iger said he intervened when Perlmutter planned to fire Feige and it caused “an accident that exists today.”

Perlmutter told the Wall Street Journal that he denies trying to oust Feige or fire him altogether.

Even after his “demotion,” Perlmutter said he was still on top of Marvel Studios movie earnings reports through 2017.

He continued to ask for financial information over the years, most recently invoking an earnings statement for “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” which premiered in May 2022.

He claims that spending on Marvel movies got out of hand and that despite his best efforts – even with former Disney CEO Bob Chapek – he was overlooked.

“There was no way to force the issue because the creative people at the Walt Disney Company are very powerful,” Perlmutter said.

The fired chairman also said that despite their tumultuous history, he and Iger have a good working relationship.

In 2014, he said he had advocated for the board to give Iger a raise after Iger complained to him that he was not making as much as counterparts at other studios.

DailyMail.com reached out to the Walt Disney Corporation for corporate communications, but received no response at time of publication.