President Donald Trump praised Isaac ‘Ike’ Perlmutter during an event on Monday night at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, highlighting his split with Disney and Marvel Studios (per Variety).
“The guy went from stone–cold broke to owning Disney,” Trump said of the ex-chairman. “Then, he got out of Disney because they went woke. He didn’t want woke Donald Duck, right?”
Disney let go Perlmutter last year as part of a cost-cutting measure that absorbed his division into other areas of the company. Earlier this year, the businessman sold all his shares—totaling about 25.6 million—for nearly $3 billion, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The outlet explained that the ex-chairman cited doubt over the future performance of the company’s stock and mentioned plans to repurchase a portion if the price drops to between $65–$75 per share.
Perlmutter, who took control of Marvel Entertainment in the 1990s, became a significant shareholder in Disney after he sold Marvel to the media giant for more than $4 billion in 2009.
While chairman, he opposed producing ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Captain Marvel’ due to concerns over their success with leads who are black or female. The films moved forward with Disney CEO Bob Iger’s support.
