Activist investor Starboard Value has invested roughly $1 billion in Pfizer. The firm wants the American pharmaceutical company to make changes to improve its performance, according to sources.
Sources report that Starboard has reached out to Frank D’Amelio, the former CFO until 2021, and Ian Read, the former CEO of Pfizer. Both have indicated an interest in supporting the activist investor.
Read held the role of CEO until 2019 when Albert Bourla succeeded him. In order to create a COVID-19 vaccination with BioNTech, Bourla played a crucial role.
A Reuters request for comment was not immediately answered by Starboard, while Pfizer declined to comment.
Investors have penalized the company due to its precipitously declining sales of COVID-19 vaccines and medications. The company also faced a less successful introduction of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and unsatisfactory trial results for an obesity treatment.
After Bourla took over in 2019, the company’s stock price dropped to $28.58 on Friday from over $41.00.
Although the company developed the vaccine quickly during the pandemic, since things have returned to normal, its fortunes have declined.
Bourla has also made large acquisition-related investments, shelling out almost $70 billion since 2020. It paid $43 billion for Seagen, $13 billion for Biohaven, $6 billion for Arena, $5 billion for Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT), and $2 billion for Trillium.
Investors have chastised the madness. They voiced particular concerns over GBT, whose lead medicine for sickle cell illness had to be taken off the market, and research was halted due to unfavorable side effects.
News of Starboard’s stake was initially reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The investment firm has advocated for changes at Match Group, News Corp NWSA.O, and Salesforce in the past.
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