Callouts & quotes from 2,101+ activist slides

"Considering our products have a large freight component, being close to the actual installation helps significantly bring value to our retailer customers. In addition, our products are decorative in nature. By being closer to the end consumer, MSI can enable customers to see and touch the materials at our locations before making a final decision. — Co-CEO Raj Shah"

"So on the U.S. retail cheese, we were launching in March, 6 SKUs under the Vitalite brand, and we have 1,000 points of distribution that has been secured. So the marketing campaigns are going to begin in conjunction with our retail launch. So exciting times to come on the retail side of the plant-based cheese for our U.S. platform. — Saputo CEO (Q3 2022 Conf Call)"

""...we announced ACTIS with High-NA, and in September, we also announced an EUV light source developed in-house with future needs in mind..." — Lasertec CEO, Jan 31, 2024 Q&A; "As for URASHIMA, we developed it in-house and leave the manufacturing to our partner companies as much as possible, just as we do with our other equipment." — Lasertec CEO, Oct 31, 2023 Q&A"

"Simply put we lost focus. We lost focus strategically. We had too many initiatives that made the company unnecessarily complex... We lost focus within our products and brands... Lastly we lost focus in process and execution... And finally we didn't have a culture of accountability which led to poor execution. — Campbell Board member & interim CEO Keith McLoughlin"

"Generac Grid Services has been making excellent progress in expanding its sales pipeline, including meaningful opportunities beyond traditional software-as-a-service contracts. The fourth quarter saw significant progress in new deals closed and in the final stages of negotiation, increasing our top line visibility for 2022. — Generac CEO (Q4 2021 Conference Call)"

"“I would not put him very high on that list. But he's Taiwanese. He's a Taiwanese entrepreneur... he doesn't really care much about corporate governance per se.” — MPWR's Early Executive; “Michael (CEO) doesn't like people asking questions he doesn't like. And Alan was doing his job as audit chairman and sort of rocked the boat too much.” — MPWR's Early Executive"

""We are very excited about the potential Centrella has to accelerate the med surg bed replacement cycle" — John Groetelaars, President & CEO, Hill-Rom. "Hospitals are generally willing to put off bed purchases if needed... It's not going to accelerate the purchasing cycle over the long-term - this is probably more of a one-time blip." — Former Employee, Hill-Rom."

"「そうです。しかし、二つ目の装置については、レーザーテックがアクティニック検査装置を実用化する以前も、極端紫外線マスクを検査するためには別の方法が必要でした。二つ目にはKLA製の深紫外線の光学装置、同社の『Teron』という製品を使いました。ところが、Teronは193ナノメートルの光源を使うので、検出できる欠陥に限界があります。極小の欠陥を明確に検出できません。そのような欠陥の疑いがある場合、座標を記録し、座標を電子ビーム検査装置に移し、欠陥があるとの疑いのある位置を見てみます。欠陥があるとすれば、マスクに転写された回路の画像にあるでしょうか。要はマスクを検査するために、光学の深紫外線と電子ビームを組み合わせる必要があるのです」 — 半導体製造装置企業の上席幹部として長年の経験を持ち、レーザーテックのCEOに親しい人物"

"To achieve that, you need to have a lot of underlying information about those securities. You have to know everything about their ESG profile, their climate profile, their thematic profile, their factor profile. So MSCI is turning into a giant equity research shop to try to understand the characteristics of securities so we can organize them that way. — MSCI CEO"

""So I think lessons learned for me. I would say I have a more full appreciation for the value and not trying to do an integration of that size on a shoestring, but to have it well planned out and to bring in a third-party to manage the process because that allowed us not to take our eye off the ball on our core business." — Keith Myers, Chairman & CEO, LHC Group"

""We also won by a wide margin at the US Army's most prestigious live-fire exercise in April of this year. Subsequently, we received a contract from the US Army, which will likely make us their preferred C-UAS standard solution. The US combat vehicle fleet will be equipped with an EOS R400 Slinger in a semi-autonomous special configuration." — CEO (December 2025)"

"“...were you aware you would lose a number of tenants in the fourth quarter or want to kick them out?” — Analyst; “Yes. So I think I might have mentioned that in the last earnings call that when we put under contract Carolina Pavilion and by the time we closed, we had 3 tenants basically go bankrupt and close their stores, which is highly unusual” — CEO Albright"

"“As soon as you get to 2023, then you get to go to scale in a different way, which is, I just tell somebody in Taiwan to start and give me 10,000 of those things. And you get to scale through manufacturing, as well.” [...] “We don’t have a manufacturing problem. You want a million qubits? No problem. That’s easy.” — Peter Chapman, IonQ CEO (Dec 2020 interview)"

"BP Moves Chief Executive to Lesser Role in Spill Response — The New York Times; Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun to step down in wake of safety issues — Axios; Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf Resigns Amid Scandal — NPR; 3M Names New CEO Amid PFAS Battles, Health Spinoff — The Wall Street Journal; CEO of Canada's Suncor Energy steps down after latest site fatality — Reuters"

"“The Trinity thing is well known. The NORA thing, I don’t think it’s as well-known, but I was at a meeting in Boston, and I made the comment, I’m like, ‘Yeah, they offered me a private flight,’ and the woman sitting across from me was like, ‘Yeah, they did it to me, too.’ We both kind of laughed about it.” — CEO of a major OPO (Organ Procurement Organization)"

"Danimer provided little disclosure of its litigation with Pereira. The limited disclosure is provided in financial statement footnotes (11 & 16 Commitments and Contingencies). There is no mention of the former Chairman and CEO and the filings only mention “the Company terminated a former executive and terminated the Company’s contract with an advisory firm.”"

"We find it unusual that somebody gets up and gives a speech about a company who never bothers to talk to management. I think most informed investors would appreciate some time spent with us so they can talk these things through unless you are simply trying to develop the short thesis to scare people and make a quick buck and move on. — Mr. Walton, Allied CEO"

""I said to another CEO...who had called me and inquired about Nelson, that if I were to form the board today, Nelson would be one of the first Directors I'd ask to serve because he is an insightful, communicative, enthusiastic, energetic and available Director." — Bill Johnson (CEO from 1998-2013, Trian Advisory Partner Since 2015), CEO Magazine, March 2008"

"Upon transition from CEO to Executive Chair on March 1, Mr. Gustafsson's base salary was reduced to $200,000 and he ceased participation in the 2023 Zebra Incentive Plan as of that date. Additionally, he received a one-time $9,000,000 equity award of time-vested RSUs that vest as of the 2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. — Zebra Executive Chair Agreement"

""Now last thing I would say is our expectations are very high for experts because this is now -- you're truly talking about service-as-a-software where they are the interface to customers and the standard in which we expect them to deliver for customers, the value that we expect them to create is very, very high." — Intuit CEO Goodarzi at 2021 Investor Day"

"“So a way to measure it, for us, it is we have put out there a list of 15 potential blockbusters that could come by the year -- in 5 years, so it is by 2022 when we put it out in '18. And I think my focus would be to make sure that we deliver more than our fair risk adjustment of this number, and that will be success.” — Albert Bourla, Pfizer Chair and CEO"

"“While most of these letters of intent are for Type C school buses, we are also seeing interest for the Type A school buses as well. Our factory representative agreement signed with ADOMANI late last year has continued to be an exceptional partnership, enabling us to rapidly pursue market opportunities in California,” — Phillip Oldridge, CEO of GreenPower."

"Spruce Point believes that DY does not have a good handle on the trajectory of its Days Sales Outstanding (“DSO”), a measure of days to collect from customers. The CEO's recent comments indicate a false sense of optimism that DSO will improve when they have worsened. Following his last comment on DSO, both CEO Nielsen resigned and CAO Villaverde resigned."

"Warning: From the earliest time of inception in 1986, the entity described as a "Joint Venture / Partnership Manufacturing" has listed as its Officers and Directors all of CHD’s key executives at the time including its CEO, CFO, Treasurer, and General Counsel. If this is truly a 50/50 joint venture as CHD describes, why is Occidental not represented here."

""I've only come up with five meaningful ways we can use our cash. First, we can invest in our current businesses. Second, we can use our cash to pay down debt and we have. However, we intend to maintain our investment grade credit rating, which we're already good shape on, and our debt is in great shape as well." — Stephen Wetmore, CEO, 2014 Investor Day"

""We are excited to partner with such a well-known and storied brand," said Skillz CEO Andrew Paradise. Now, everyone around the world can compete for cash and glory with the Big Buck Hunter mobile app powered by Skillz. — Andrew Paradise; "a cultural icon for 20 years" — Andrew Paradise; "the most unprofessional CEO that I’ve ever met" — Former employee"

"“These are all high-margin specialty applications...You can see the margins for construction are best in class here running from 23%, to just under 26%. We maintain these margins because of the specialty nature of the product, the distribution network, and the fact that their specified for high-end applications.” — Greg Poling, President & CEO, May 2016"

""Chief Revenue Destroyer," — Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO). "When Blackwell starts shipping in volume, you couldn't give Hoppers away." — Jensen Huang (Nvidia CEO). "A year ago or so, an H100 was $5-6 per hour. Now, it's around 75 cents, maybe less. Hardware typically depreciates in three to five years, but that's happening in a year now." — CEO of host.AI"

"Nelson Peltz seeks to understand other points of view as much as he seeks to be heard. He is an active listener. Having been a CEO, Nelson also has a healthy respect for the difficulties and challenges of leading large public companies...Nelson is collaborative by nature – he is always searching for the best ideas. That makes him a great change agent."

"We supported Mr. Pease’s appointment to the Board, in part because we were encouraged by his outlook on corporate governance. For example, during the interview process with us, Mr. Pease shared the very clear and widely held view that having a CEO also serve as Board Chair was detrimental to a company in need of change. — Elliott Investment Management"

"With respect, one of the responsibilities of the Senior Independent Director at BP is to “be available to address shareholders’ concerns which have failed to be resolved by the chair, CEO or CFO or for which such contact is inappropriate”, which we believe perfectly describes the current state of the dialogue between Bluebell Capital Partners and BP."

"BR's CEO cited many records in FY 2022, but what he doesn't point out is that cash flow declined. By adjusting the results for the onerous UBS project investment and COVID-19 effects, as well as the inorganic acquisition contribution from Itiviti, we estimate that BR's core business experienced declining Cash From Operations by approximately -17.2%."

"“...the only region in the world showing clear signs of increased E&P investments in 2017 is North America land...” — Schlumberger CEO Paal Kibsgaard; “...the market is a tale of two cycles. North America activity increased rapidly but not without growing pains, while activity in the rest of the world declined...” — Halliburton President Jeff Miller"

""And so, here's the new brand, keep it really simple, no mask, no hose, just sleep. We don't talk about implant, we don't talk about surgery, we talk about a therapy that will -- you'll use every night in your -- procedure, and... so, here's two commercials that we ran." — CEO Tim Herbert, SVB Leerlink Global Healthcare Conference, February 26, 2020"

""Where we've fallen short was on MCT, right, with the Zio AT product. In our long-range plan, when we put those expectations out, we actually expected to have the new MCT product in the market about 2 years ago. So we're almost 24 months delayed from where we thought we were going to be." — iRhythm CEO Blackford at Goldman Sachs Conference, 6/10/25"

"Looking carefully at Generac's import records for a gauge of its economic activity since Jan 1, 2021, we see that imports sharply declined around the October / November 2021 period. This corresponds with the CEO forming a family foundation and entering into his second stock sale program on November 8, 2021 which wasn't disclosed until Feb 1, 2022."

"Investors seeking to diligence the background of PETQ’s CEO on the Company’s website will find no mention of the more questionable elements of Christensen’s history, including his personal bankruptcy, his ties to the Thomas Petters Ponzi scheme, his unlawful sale of unregistered securities, or association with the accounting fraud at Fleming Corp."

"The need to plan the succession of Mr. Fink, considering potential internal and external candidates and avoiding the risk that the succession process becomes a direct appointment by Mr. Fink of his most trusted lieutenant, makes it extremely urgent to reinstate strong independent oversight within the Board, by separating the roles of Chair and CEO"

"The original entities formed to provide physician consultations were incorporated under the Bailey Health name. However, these entities were managed and owned by HIMS or HIMS management, including CEO Dudum. In addition, we question whether the lack of proper disclosure around the entities' true business purpose was meant to evade CPoM provisions."

"The need to plan the succession of Mr. Fink, considering potential internal and external candidates and avoiding the risk that the succession process becomes a direct appointment by Mr. Fink of his most trusted lieutenant, makes it extremely urgent to reinstate strong independent oversight within the Board, by separating the roles of Chair and CEO"

"“Extremely Toxic Work Environment and Unprofessional Leadership. The management, particularly the CEO, fostered an extremely toxic work environment. Employees were often fired on the spot in front of their colleagues, which not only created a climate of fear but also caused significant mental anguish among staff.” — Former Employee – Sept. 1, 2024"

"「豊田自動織機の発表には、財務予測、割引率、税務上の前提の開示が一切ない[...]」 — ACGA、2025年7月; 「豊田自動織機には、土地やその他の保有資産に多大な隠れた資産価値が存在する。」 — 会社役員育成機構 CEO (Nick Benes)、2025年6月; 「トップマネジメントと投資家・株主との対話は企業価値向上プロセスのエンジンであり、私共はこれを少なくとも四半期に1回程度の頻度を確保して頂くことを希望します。」 — Dalton Investmentsによる豊田自動織機宛て書簡、2024年5月; 「(豊田自動織機の)歴史的に低迷してきた市場評価は、そのガバナンスと所有構造の直接的な結果であり、したがって取引評価の基準として用いるべきではない。」 — GMO、2025年5月"

"“Yes. And one is implementation takes longer than expected and the second one is the slow-down of the industry. So, the two factors work together to slow down the shipments. For example, TSMC Arizona is delayed by a year or two. So, equipment gets delayed.” — Longtime, senior semicap equipment executive in Japan who is friendly with Lasertec’s CEO"

"We grew the total number of customers generating more than $200,000 of revenue by 38% year-over-year on a trailing 12-month basis. — CEO, Aug 3, 2022; Our gross retention rate remains over 95%, and we have achieved 41% growth in the total number of customers generating more than $200,000 of revenue on a trailing 12-month basis. — CEO, Nov 8, 2022"

"Oh yeah. It is a dog fight. Absolute dog fight. I think between them two. Okay. And their CEOs do not like each other. — Former DV sales executive. No ad agency would ever buy them. Neither would a major platform. They have to stay independent to maintain that sort of perception of being, you know, a non-biased party. — Former DV sales executive."

""And finally, Broadridge's objectives to expand margins through scale and efficiency to strengthen by adding Itiviti. Itiviti's 30% plus operating margin business will increase our adjusted operating income margin by 50 basis points by fiscal '23 and positions us for higher adjusted earnings growth." — CEO Gokey, Itiviti M&A Call, March 29, 2021"

""In its first year, iHub contributes 40% of our year-over-year EBITDA growth and more importantly, our ability to capture signals from all channels to a central hub, as you can see it on your screen and analyze them is the main factor behind SORT superior performance over other conventional targeting methods." — CEO Gerstel, Q3 2022 Nov 9, 2022"

"If you can get $3,000 - $5,000 per account (or more),if you can get something like that, if you can find a product valuable enough for people to spend that kind of money, then you can actually be able hire people, build a team. You will be able to bootstrap and build your company to a point where investors will come to you. — CEO Interview 2016"

"“No offense, but we don’t really care what you think,” he says. “The people we care about are our customers. They’ve seen the data, they’ve run the tests in their own lab, they’ve seen it works, and as a result they’re putting in massive bets on this company. VW has gone all in.” — Jagdeep Singh, CEO of QuantumScape (via MIT Technology Review)"

""In the near term, I would expect less profitability at the bottom line than what was previously disclosed." — Stephen Croskrey, CEO Danimer Scientific. "As I noted earlier, the Phase II expansion is now expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2022 compared to our initial assumption of late 2021" — John Dowdy, CFO Danimer Scientific."

""much less real estate" — James Gorman, CEO of Morgan Stanley; "I don't think any company's going to go back to 100% of the workforce in the office." — Larry Fink, CEO of Blackrock; "It allows us to look for new talent in locations where maybe we haven't before and tap into talent pools across the country." — BMO Chief Human Resources Officer"

"“...The entire episode has also revealed the limitations of ‘Disney nice.’ Avoiding face-to-face conflict, at least at the CEO and board level, fostered an environment where Iger and Chapek couldn’t hash out their differences. Executives who openly challenged others — Mayer, Rice, McCarthy — were ultimately dinged for their frankness.” — CNBC"

"“in addition to the significantly increased costs borne by transplant centers to utilize the device itself, TransMedics is pressuring hospitals to use their more expensive aircraft, not only for transportation of organs, but also for the convenient of their staff and equipment.” — Congressman Paul Gosar letter to TransMedics CEO, Feb 21, 2024"

""So we have a huge selling and service motion going on with Microsoft and -- our friends at Microsoft with their Azure Stack. And I think we've closed about -- in excess of a couple of hundred million dollars worth of business with them, and we have a very, very large pipeline that we're working.." — CEO Siebel, Wells Fargo Conf, Dec 2, 2021"

"Spruce Point believes investors should be skeptical of the continued outperformance of PERI’s share price. PERI recently announced a CEO transition plan and then disclosed concerning revisions to accounting policies in its annual report. Insiders have been repeatedly liquidating shares and PERI reported its first cash flow decline in years."

"“As we work to continually reinvent our category and lead a new era of intelligent finance for SMBs, we are also focused on becoming a more efficient, agile organization so that we can move faster on high-impact opportunities, drive durable revenue growth and deliver superior, sustainable value creation.” — René Lacerte, BILL CEO (10/16/25)"

""we said that we think it could be $10 billion product for us in a market that could be $90 billion. Clearly, we are going to be one of them." — Albert Bourla (PFE CEO), January 9, 2023. "And that's how we get to our $10 billion global opportunity for Pfizer oral GLP-1." — Andy Schmeltz (PFE Global President of Oncology), February 16, 2023."

"CEO Wilson formed the Cuattro Foundation on 12/27/18, about a month after the November 2018 transaction with Heska. Given Wilson's history of related party transactions (read the Heska proxy related to the Cuattro Veterinary deal), we would love to review the foundation's activities, but it hasn't filed a Form 990 (as required) since 2018."

""we said that we think it could be $10 billion product for us in a market that could be $90 billion. Clearly, we are going to be one of them." — Albert Bourla (PFE CEO), January 9, 2023; "And that's how we get to our $10 billion global opportunity for Pfizer oral GLP-1." — Andy Schmeltz (PFE Global President of Oncology), February 16, 2023"

"We’re going to have higher margins with the delivery of these cost synergies, and we haven’t quantified the benefits of any revenue synergies but we would clearly expect to be able to grow at higher rates over the longer term than we would independently.... And we see some very specific opportunities — CEO on Revenue Synergies, Aug 7, 2018"