US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Ike Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment, before signing an executive order at the US Department of Veterans Affairs on April 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.
Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
Ike Perlmutter, Disney’s former president of Marvel Entertainment, is planning a major donation to support former President Donald Trump’s 2024 run for president, according to his spokesperson.
Perlmutter has yet to decide how much he plans to donate towards the Trump administration, but a spokesperson for the businessman said Thursday that the financial support would be “meaningful.”
Perlmutter and Trump have been close for more than two decades. Perlmutter previously donated $10.5 million to the pro-Trump PAC during the 2020 election cycle, according to FEC records. Records showed that Perlmutter’s wife also gave $10.5 million to the same PAC.
Perlmutter also served as an outside counsel to then-President Trump on issues related to the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to ProPublica.
The former Marvel boss, who has a net worth of over $3 billion, is by far one of the richest supporters of Trump’s 2020 campaign. Many of the major donors who backed the former president are looking for replacements in the wake of the January 6, 2021 pro-Trump riots in Capitol Hill and some lackluster 2022 midterm election results.
The Trump-aligned PAC, Make America Great Again, will likely receive money from Perlmutter. The super PAC entered this year with just over $54 million on hand, and has spent over $19 million in TV and digital ads to date.
Trump is currently leading in the Republican primaries, well Before His opponent is in second place in Florida Republican Ron DeSantis.
Perlmutter’s decision to once again back Trump over his Republican rivals could be another blow to DeSantis. Some of the governor’s donors are interested in the course of his campaign. Perlmutter donated more than $250,000 to a statewide executive committee that supported her when he ran for governor in 2018 and 2022, according to campaign finance records. His wife gave more than $2 million to the same supporter DeSantis PAC, according to records.
New York times mentioned Perlmutter recently had dinner with fellow Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Perlmutter, after being fired from Disney earlier this year, Tell The Wall Street Journal called DeSantis and agreed that the company should not be involved in politics. “Ron, you’re right. Disney has no right to get involved in politics,” Perlmutter reportedly told DeSantis in a phone call. Disney and DeSantis have been at war since the entertainment giant last year slammed a Republican-backed bill that critics dubbed “Don’t Say Like Me.”
Perlmutter told the newspaper that Disney fired him as president of Marvel Entertainment because he pushed the company too aggressively to cut costs and had problems with executives allied with new CEO Bob Iger.
A Disney representative told the newspaper that the company’s general counsel called Perlmutter to inform him he was being terminated because of the company’s broader cost-cutting efforts. Perlmutter told the publication he had no memory of such a call.
Iger told CNBC on Thursday that he rejected DeSantis’ campaign rhetoric against the company, calling the Republican presidential nominee’s attacks “unreasonable and inaccurate.” Iger also said that there will be a downturn in content spending and the creation of Star Wars and Marvel franchises.
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