Former Pfizer CEO, CFO Step Back From Starboard Activist Bid

Former Pfizer Inc CEO Ian Read and former CFO Frank D’Amelio said on Wednesday evening that they will step back from activist investor Starboard Value’s campaign for changes at the pharmaceutical giant.

Read and D’Amelio said they were “fully supportive” of current Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla and the firm’s top management, and that they were confident in their ability to deliver “shareholder value.”

Their comments were made in a joint statement issued by Guggenheim Securities, and came just days after reports said that Starboard had built up a $1 billion stake in Pfizer and was calling for measures to boost shareholder returns.

The reports said Starboard also had the backing of Read and D’Amelio.

It was not immediately clear how Read and D’Amelio’s backing out would affect Starboard’s activist activities with Pfizer. Reports said that Starboard head Jeff Smith was set to meet Pfizer’s Bourla in the coming days.

Starboard’s potential stake in the firm comes as Pfizer grapples with slowing sales as a COVID-era boost to sales largely ran out of steam. The company was also lagging its peers in rolling out weight-loss drugs, which have become a hot topic in recent months with the growing popularity of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic.

Starboard has been active in a slew of sectors, building up stakes in Starbucks Corporation and News Corp earlier this year to push for changes.

That case is not directly related to the Premier League disciplinary commission which is underway into 115 charges against City for allegedly breaching its financial regulations, some of which date back to 2009.