Pfizer, activist fund Starboard buys shares for 1 billion
The investor allegedly involved a couple of former group managers in the strategic plan to change the company's development decisions
by Mo.D.
3' min read
3' min read
Pfizer raced on the stock market after the news of the investment by the activist fund Starboard Value. The latter acquired a stake of around USD 1 billion in the US pharmaceutical company.
Starboard has approached former Pfizer executives Ian Read and Frank D'Amelio to join them and support the group's strategy to relaunch its operations. The two managers have expressed interest in working together, according to press rumours, although it is not yet clear in what role they might be involved in the company's future. Their knowledge of the group and their experience could be valuable to the new investor, should he wish to intervene in the company's management. Read, in fact, was CEO of Pfizer from 2010 to 2018 and chose current ceo Albert Bourla as his successor. D'Amelio, on the other hand, was CFO of the New York-based company from 2007 to 2021.
On Wall Street, Pfizer shares are gaining more than 3% in the early hours of the session. Still not enough of an increase to bring the stock's balance since the start of the year into positive territory.
Pfizer's challenges post Covid
.During the pandemic, the company's Covid-19 vaccine and treatment more than doubled its revenues from USD 42 billion in 2020 to USD 100 billion in 2022, but demand for these drugs has been declining dramatically, confronting the group with the need to invest in research to secure future revenues and profits.
The market, however, is still not convinced that the pharmaceutical group is able to replace the extraordinary gains from the pandemic with other drugs and so the company's share price has more than halved since its peak in December 2021.
