Good morning, CFOs. A boardroom brawl at Walt Disney is expected to be the most expensive shareholder fight ever, and a chance for everyday investors to have a big impact.

Two activist hedge funds—Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management and the smaller Blackwells Capital—are separately going toe-to-toe with Disney to gain spots on its board and challenge the strategy of Chief Executive Bob Iger.

All in, the three parties could spend north of $70 million ahead of an April 3 shareholder vote. They are already shelling out for slick marketing materials, social-media blitzes and the services of proxy solicitors—akin to campaign strategists—who wrangle shareholder support for their clients’ board candidates.

One reason for the high price: the millions of individual investors who own an outsize portion of Disney’s roughly 1.8 billion shares. They control over a third of Disney’s stock—more than is typical for a public company. Institutional investors such as BlackRock and Vanguard hold the rest, and their votes carry heft, too. Getting the word out to such a widespread shareholder base is costly.

Monday

• Earnings: Arista Networks, Principal Financial Group, Waste Management

Tuesday

• Earnings: Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Hasbro, Marriott International, Molson Coors Beverage
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases the consumer price index for January.
• The National Federation of Independent Business releases its Small Business Optimism Index for January.

Wednesday

• Earnings: Cisco Systems, Kraft Heinz, Occidental Petroleum, Sony Group

Thursday

• Earnings: Coinbase Global, Deere, DoorDash, DraftKings, Stellantis
• The Census Bureau reports retail sales data for January.
• The National Association of Home Builders releases its Housing Market Index for February.

Friday

• Earnings: NatWest Group, PPL, Vulcan Materials
• The University of Michigan releases its Consumer Sentiment Survey for February.
• The BLS releases the producer price index for January.

• Two Permian rivals, Diamondback Energy and Endeavor Energy Resources, are finalizing a merger that would create an oil-and-gas behemoth worth more than $50 billion.
   
• New York Community Bancorp has said its deposits are stable, though the regional lender is considering asset sales and seeking to raise funds after its stock plunged. Customers say they are watching anxiously.
   
• Most investors are running away from San Francisco’s downtown real-estate market, but Ian Jacobs, heir of the Toronto-based Reichmann real-estate dynasty, is heading in. 
   
• History is littered with financial companies that were undone by one bad bet. Investors are worried that B. Riley Financial will be one of them. The small investment bank is under fire for funding a buyout linked to a firm that prosecutors call a fraud.
   
• Decades after automation began taking and transforming manufacturing jobs, AI is coming for the higher-ups in the corporate office.
   
• Turmoil in commercial real estate is sending jitters through regional banks and other lenders. But one group is pleased with the turbulence: investors sitting on piles of cash they raised to scoop up distressed properties.

The Wall Street Journal's CFO Journal offers corporate leaders and professionals CFO analysis, advice and commentary to make informed decisions. We cover topics ranging from corporate tax accounting, regulation, capital markets, management and strategy.

Follow us on X @WSJCFO. The WSJ CFO Journal Team is reporters Kristin Broughton, Mark Maurer and Jennifer Williams-Alvarez, and Bureau Chief Walden Siew.

You can reach us by replying to any newsletter, or email Walden at walden.siew@wsj.com.