|
Amidst an uptick in new campaigns in 2024, activist investors are seeing their batting average decrease. Per Barclays’ Q3 activism review report, published this week, only 84 board seats have been awarded to activists year-to-date compared to 109 last year. This, of course, is further evidence that the universal proxy is not the boon to activist effectiveness in proxy fights that was once thought. But not all is bad news for activists. Barclays says that ~20% of targeted company CEOs resigned within a year compared to the ~12% average in the past two years.
In a continuation of recent trends, Barclays also highlighted that first-time activists have, for the first time, surpassed major players in terms of activity, initiating ~22% of campaigns launched YTD.
A recent example is the little-known PE shop-turned-activist AJ Investments, who has been pushing Assassin’s Creed game maker Ubisoft to sell itself and change its CEO. Last week, the Slovakia-based fund upped the pressure by claiming to have support from ~10% of its shareholders ahead of its meeting with management Tuesday. The news comes as Ubisoft employees strike following the company’s new return-to-office policy, joining other tech giants like Amazon.
Speaking of in-person, Big Tech companies aren’t the only ones calling for a return to in-person business – so are investors, according to Barron’s. Rebecca Ungarino reports on the growing investor discontent with virtual annual meetings, with some claiming that companies are using it as a tactic to suppress potentially unwelcome investor voices. Smaller investors and special interest groups believe they should be given more of a platform to voice concerns and present proposals, which is hard to do with a call queue and a mute button.
Have a safe and happy holiday,
GPP team
| 
