DealLawyers.com Blog

If you’ve followed my blogs on TheCorporateCounsel.net, you know that I never pass on a chance to blog about situations involving even the most tangential link between celebrities and corporate law issues.  That’s why I was delighted to discover that this recent Cooley retrospective on investor activism in 2025 had a big section on the rise of “celebtivists.”

Cooley highlighted JANA Partners’ highly publicized decision to team up with Travis Kelce in a campaign targeting Six Flags. This excerpt points out that JANA’s work with Taylor Swift’s betrothed is hardly the only example of celebrities getting involved in promoting or defending against activist campaigns:

Notably, Six Flags was not the first time that JANA locked arms with a celebrity. JANA previously worked with CC Sabathia and Dwyane Wade at Freshpet. Starboard Value has also teamed up with a celebrity – Shaquille O’Neil – in connection with an investment in Papa John’s.

As a matter of strategy, partnering with a “celebtivist” is attractive. Leveraging high-profile relationships can draw significant attention to campaigns, functioning to increase external pressure on issuers and drive retail shareholder interest. How activists will continue to bring public-facing personas into the fold remains to be seen, but companies should think creatively about rolling out the red carpet for Hollywood when appropriate.

In fact, celebrities have defended companies facing activism. When Dan Loeb’s Third Point targeted Sony, George Clooney publicly criticized Loeb’s attempt to influence the entertainment giant. George Lucas took a similar stance defending Disney in the face of its proxy fight with Trian. Lucas, the largest individual investor, voiced support for both Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney’s board. Other influential personalities and celebrities – including the family of Walt Disney, Laurene Powell Jobs, Jamie Dimon, actor Josh Gad, and former CEO of Disney, Michael Eisner – also publicly supported Disney’s leadership.

Needless to say, I love this development and hope “celebtivism” continues to surge. I’m getting a little long in tooth, but if events permit me to turn this blog into the M&A law version of TMZ before I pass the torch, I’ll retire a happy man.

– John Jenkins