The activist investor Nelson Peltz says that he reconnected Tesla CEO Elon Musk to President-elect Donald Trump, hosting the two of them for breakfast at his home in the late spring, months before Musk began to support his campaign.
Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha Conference in lower Manhattan Wednesday, Peltz noted that he is a personal friend of Musk’s, and that he and his son Diesel (a tech founder) hosted the pair.
“Elon was at the house for a weekend, and we had a breakfast and invited Donald for breakfast, and they sort of reunited again,” Peltz told CNBC’s Sara Eisen on stage. “I was a matchmaker. That was late last spring, and since then, look, I don’t know that Donald would have had this sweeping victory without Elon. Elon was in Pennsylvania, I thought he was going to be Amish, he was there full time.”
As for Musk’s new role in the administration as the co-head of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” Peltz was optimistic.
“If Donald gives him the opportunity he will cut costs. And that’s what we need to do,” he said. “We need to cut costs.”
Peltz also discussed his failed proxy fight against The Walt Disney Co. earlier this year, joking that he might make another run at the company if the stock price falls to a low enough price, and predicting that it will name a successor to CEO Bob Iger before the end of next year, not 2026, as chairman James Gorman previously indicated.
“The index funds didn’t want me to win, the index funds get paid a lot of money from Disney, and they didn’t want me to win,” Peltz said, adding that he bought the stock when it was in the 80s and sold it all at $119. “It wasn’t much of a celebration with the victory, because it went back down to the 80s, and now it’s getting close to 100 again.”
When pressed by Eisen whether he might make another run at the company, Peltz wouldn’t rule it out: “If the stock goes back to the 80s, I’ll be back. You can count on me,” he said, laughing.
As for the CEO prediction, Peltz said that he believes Disney will name a successor to Iger next year, and not 2026, but that he is optimistic Gorman is equipped to find the right person.
“I know Gorman. He’s a good man, he is going to do a great job. And he will get a respectable CEO,” Peltz said. “The last two CEOs, Iger and Michael Eisner, I don’t know what happens in that office at Disney, if you’re there for a couple of years, you think your name is Walt Disney.”