Isaac Perlmutter

Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter (יצחק "אייק" פרלמוטר; born December 1, 1942) is an Israeli-American billionaire businessman and financier.

Through a variety of sometimes unorthodox business deals, he has been an influential investor in a number of corporations, including Revco drug stores, Coleco Entertainment, Remington, and Toy Biz/Marvel Toys.

He is the former chairman and CEO of Marvel Entertainment.

He has a political relationship with Donald Trump, and acted as an unofficial advisor in his presidential administration, overseeing the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Isaac Perlmutter was born to a Jewish family in Mandatory Palestine, which became the State of Israel during his childhood.

He served in the Israel Defense Forces during the Six-Day War of 1967.

He emigrated to America, arriving in New York City with only $250, and he earned a living standing outside Jewish cemeteries in Brooklyn, leveraging his Hebrew skills to lead funeral services for tips.

Later he sold toys and beauty products on the streets of New York City, which eventually evolved into selling surplus stock and end-of-line items at a profit.

Although he never attended a university, he taught himself how to read a balance sheet and worked at spotting overlooked value in weak and distressed companies.

With a new partner, Bernard Marden, and leveraging the skills he attained as a wholesaler, he formed a company called Odd Lot Trading, a wholesaler and retailer of closeout items.

In May 1984, they sold Odd Lot to Revco Discount Drug Stores in exchange for 12% of Revco stock.

He soon challenged Revco management for control of the company but, after initial positive feedback, was rejected.

Perlmutter and his partner threatened a hostile takeover but eventually refrained and sold their share back to Revco for $120 million.

Perlmutter had a close relationship with the management of toy manufacturer Coleco Entertainment Corporation as he had been purchasing unsold inventory from them for some time.

As is typical in the industry, payment terms were often unusual.

With Coleco, Perlmutter would purchase unsold inventory in exchange for 50% cash and 50% in "barter advertising credits" (basically a promise to pay for the future advertising expenses of Coleco).

Over a four-year period, Perlmutter had received $144 million in goods and paid $73 million in cash along with providing $71 million in barter advertising credits to be paid in the future.

In 1988, he saw an opportunity as Coleco struggled under its debt due to the advent of the personal computer which impacted the sale of video games.

Perlmutter bought all of Coleco's senior debt (with $85 million in face value) for $50 million, a substantial discount, becoming senior to their bondholders in the event of a bankruptcy.

Although Perlmutter believed that a Coleco bankruptcy was probable, he also believed that the value of the Coleco's assets should be sufficient to cover the full $85 million in value that he had purchased.

In July 1988, Coleco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The bondholders, suspicious over Perlmutter's close relationship with Coleco's management, sued Perlmutter alleging fraudulent conveyance over the barter advertising credits (which made up a very significant item on Coleco's balance sheet).

After extensive negotiation, a settlement was reached whereby Coleco would be sold to Hasbro Corporation for $85 million and Perlmutter would accept $64 million for his now $90 million claim (principal plus interest) in exchange for the withdrawal of the lawsuit.

Isaac Perlmutter was co-owner with Avi Arad of Toy Biz (later Marvel Toys), after purchasing its predecessor company from Charan Industries in January 1990.

Toy Biz was reorganized in the Marvel deal, with Perlmutter continuing to own the original Toy Biz as a holding company named Zib, which held its foreign sales affiliate Toy Biz International and Perlmutter's share of the new Toy Biz.

Isaac Perlmutter was a member of the board of directors of Marvel Comics beginning in April 1993 and was chairman of the board until March 1995.

In 1994, Victor Kiam sold controlling interest of Remington Products to Isaac Perlmutter.

Perlmutter became Vice President of Remington.

Kiam and Perlmutter sold Remington to Vestar Capital Partners in 1996.

When the Marvel Group went bankrupt in 1996, protracted legal battles over control of the company followed between Perlmutter, Arad, Carl Icahn, and Ronald Perelman.

By 1997, Perlmutter and Arad had established control over the company, pushing out Icahn and Perelman.

ToyBiz and Marvel were merged into Marvel Enterprises to bring it out of bankruptcy in June 1998, with ToyBiz becoming a division of the new company.

In November 2001, Perlmutter became vice chairman of Marvel.

He became the chief executive officer of Marvel Comics in January 2005.

He remained CEO of Marvel Entertainment, after its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in December 2009.

Although Perlmutter received $800 million in cash and $590 million in Disney stock after the acquisition, he did not take a seat on Disney's board of directors.

In September 2015, Perlmutter stopped overseeing the development of Marvel Studios.

Disney felt studio head Kevin Feige should report directly to the chair of The Walt Disney Studios, Alan Horn, so that all cinematic properties of Disney (including Pixar and Lucasfilm) were under one management structure.

The restructuring was reportedly due to Feige's "frustration" of working with Perlmutter as well as alleged comments and actions by Perlmutter, such as replacing Terrence Howard – who wanted more money to continue playing James Rhodes – with Don Cheadle, arguing that black people "look the same."

Perlmutter's sidelining coincided with a significant increase in Marvel Studio's focus on diversity and inclusiveness.