Pfizer threatened renegade executives before schism: Starboard’s Smith

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Pfizer threatened renegade executives before schism: Starboard’s Smith

Ian Read, chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer Inc., gestures as he speaks during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017.

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Activist Starboard Value accused Pfizer of threatening litigation against the company’s former CEO and CFO in order to get them to break ranks with the investor’s nascent turnaround campaign at the pharmaceutical giant.

Starboard managing member Jeff Smith said in a Thursday letter to Pfizer’s board that the company or its advisors also “threatened” to claw back former chief executive Ian Read and ex-CFO Frank D’Amelio’s past compensation and cancel their unvested shares.

Smith asked that the board assemble a special committee to investigate the matter, describing it as “highly inappropriate, flagrantly unethical, and a significant breach of fiduciary obligations.”

The risk of legal liability was a driving factor in Read and D’Amelio’s public backing of Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla late Wednesday night, said a person familiar with the interactions between the company and the two former executives.

Starboard’s Smith said that when the activist approached the two executives, both expressed “concerns” about Pfizer’s direction under Bourla and offered to help Starboard in its turnaround campaign.

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