The brewing proxy fight between activist Starboard Value and pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has already taken a hostile turn. Anonymous sources have been disparagingly suggesting that Pfizer CEO Dr. Albert Bourla should be removed. After news reports suggested they initially sided with the activists, former Pfizer CEO Ian Read and former CFO Frank D’Amelio switched sides, abandoning their erstwhile Starboard allies and expressing their support for Bourla. Then, Starboard Value Founder Jeff Smith reportedly issued a fiery letter to Pfizer’s board, alleging intimidation and coercion.
We don’t know for sure what Starboard’s turnaround plan contains. It has allegedly created an “extensive 50-page slide deck on its turnaround plans” which it is yet to reveal publicly. But one can easily guess what the primary complaints about Bourla might be since these criticisms have now been repeated so many times in anonymous leaks to the media: that Pfizer stock has gone sideways under Bourla’s watch; that he supposedly overpaid in several major acquisitions and squandered tens of billions of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine windfalls; that Pfizer’s business is in deep trouble after the demand for COVID vaccines fell off faster than anyone thought possible.
