Starboard last year took a $1 billion stake in Pfizer, looking to turn the pharma around after alleged severe shortcomings by its current leadership. But Bloomberg reports it has missed the deadline for nominating a director to the pharma’s board.
Activist investor Starboard Value held off on nominating a director to Pfizer’s board, missing its Jan. 25 deadline, according to reporting from Bloomberg on Monday, which cited anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
The pharma is expected to convene its shareholders in April, when they will vote on nominated directors for the company. BioSpace has reached out for Pfizer for comment and will update this space as needed.
Despite missing its deadline for this year’s annual shareholder meeting, Starboard will still be able to continue its challenge to Pfizer through nominations for 2026 if it is unable to reach an arrangement with the pharma, Bloomberg noted.
Monday’s news is the latest development in the ongoing tussle between Pfizer and Starboard. In October 2024, the activist investor carved out a $1 billion stake in the pharma, noting at the time that it had lost faith in the company’s current leadership, especially CEO Albert Bourla, who the firm said has forgone the company’s usual disciplined spending patterns.
Initially, Starboard had gotten former Pfizer executives—ex-CEO Ian Read and ex-CFO Frank D’Amelio—onboard, though both walked back their involvement, announcing just days later that they were no longer involved in Starboard’s campaign.
In a presentation in October 2024, Starboard outlined its problems with Pfizer, stating that while the company was able to generate big value for its shareholders during the COVID-19 pandemic, it has largely failed to capitalize on this market leverage.
In particular, Pfizer has failed to realize the multi-blockbuster potential of its pipeline, Starboard claimed, pointing to what it characterized as several missed opportunities such as cancer therapy Bavencio—which Pfizer ultimately divested to former partner Merck KGaA—and the JAK1 asset Cibinqo, which the firm projects to fall “well short” of its blockbuster target by 2030.
Starboard also claimed that Pfizer seems to have “significantly overpaid” for several of its big-ticket acquisitions, which since 2022 have reached nearly $70 billion. These deals include the $43 billion buyout of Seagen and $5.4 billion for Global Blood Therapeutics. Citing Wall Street Research estimates, Starboard argued that the pharma will miss its 2030 M&A sales target by $7 billion.
The GBT acquisition was particularly problematic for Starboard, which flagged Pfizer’s later decision to pull the sickle cell disease therapy Oxbryta—the centerpiece of the GBT agreement—after new evidence pointed to an excess risk of death and complications.
Despite these stumbles, analysts have largely taken Pfizer’s side, with BMO Capital Markets writing in October 2024 that Starboard’s takeover “could do little to change the story near term” and suggesting in a different note that solving the pharma’s predicament will take more than a “quick fix.”
“Management appears to actually be undertaking many of the corrective actions to right the ship,” the BMO analysts continued. “Change takes time, and replacing the CEO (while satisfying to some) is unlikely to fix the story and immediately re-rate shares.”
