LivePerson, Inc. LPSN
The three reasons
- 1
Founder-CEO Rob LoCascio's unchecked power has produced repeated missed commitments and a 70% stock decline from peak
- 2
Toxic corporate culture: CEO approval 14% below proxy peer average and dead last on 'recommend to a friend'
- 3
Excessive turnover: 3 CFOs, 3 heads of technology, and 4 sales leaders rotated in just the last five years
Primary demands
- Reconstitute the Board with new, independent directors via Starboard's nominee slate at the 2022 Annual Meeting
- Separate Chair and CEO roles; remove founder Rob LoCascio's unchecked power
- Appoint a lead independent director and install directors with public company and enterprise software experience
- Refocus the company on its core chatbot/conversational AI business and halt adjacent distractions (health app, bank, crypto)
- Instill true Board accountability and improve corporate culture and diversity
KPIs cited
Pattern membership
Where this document fits across the library's 12 rhetorical / structural patterns.
Notable slides (5)
Notes
Formal proxy-fight stockholder letter (not a deck) from Peter Feld, Managing Member of Starboard, during an active proxy contest after filing preliminary proxy materials on April 20, 2022. Unusual rhetorical device: letter leans heavily on extended verbatim Glassdoor employee quotes (rather than CEO quotes) to indict corporate culture and the founder-CEO's focus on 'random' ventures (health app, bank, crypto). Two embedded visuals: an Executive Officer Turnover grid (page 3) and peer-gap bar charts on female and underrepresented community board representation (page 4). Also cites a 2006 gender discrimination lawsuit (Cash v. LivePerson). Tone is sharply adversarial despite the letter format. Letter promises more detailed materials in coming weeks ahead of the Annual Meeting, suggesting this is a governance/culture-focused opener in a broader campaign.