Activist investor Starboard Value LP has taken a $1 billion stake in Pfizer as the biopharmaceutical company works to improve its performance. Starboard is expected to implement changes at Pfizer to help turn the company around and boost its revenue.
Pfizer invested heavily in the COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic, but its shares have since decreased by half from the company’s peak in 2021. With the demand for COVID-19 vaccines slowing, the company is looking for a new product that will improve its sales. Starboard believes that current Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla diverged from the traditional cost and investment strategy that the company historically implemented, according to anonymous sources who spoke to CNBC.
It was rumored that Starboard may try to include former Pfizer CEO Ian Read and former CFO Frank D’Amelio to improve the company’s future. However, on Oct. 9 both Read and D’Amelio issued a statement supporting Bourla and the company’s senior management and they will be withdrawing their involvement in Starboard’s investment in Pfizer.
“We have decided not to be involved in the efforts of Starboard Value regarding Pfizer,” Guggenheim Securities said in a statement issued on behalf of Read and D’Amelio. “We are fully supportive of Pfizer Chairman & CEO Albert Bourla, senior management and the board, and we are confident that over time they will deliver shareholder value.”
Bourla started his efforts to improve Pfizer’s value in 2019, but despite ongoing efforts, the stock is currently trading 30% lower than it was pre-pandemic. This largely had to do with Pfizer’s expensive acquisition strategy, where it spent $70 billion since 2020 on mergers and acquisition costs.
Pfizer had also acquired Global Blood Therapeutics two years ago for about $5 billion.
However, the company downplayed the deal’s negative financial impact of that deal, stating in September that the drug generated $300 million over the past year. To improve its financial situation, Pfizer started cutting costs in October 2023. In May, Pfizer announced a second round of cost-cutting measures that aims to cut $1.5 billion by 2027.
Despite these efforts, the company has lost over $100 billion in shareholder value since the pandemic.
Some analysts note that there isn’t much more for the Pfizer board to do, as the company is already adjusting to decreased revenue. Meanwhile, Pfizer is working to refocus on strategic initiatives that began when Bourla joined the company in 2019.
