Callouts & quotes from 2,101+ activist slides

"The CEO has been selling stock more aggressively since shares were relisted in 2020. However, even more concerning is that just in the recent eight-month period from Feb 28th – Nov 11th CEO Liang has sold the most shares in recent history. His stock sales are mirrored by the CFO’s sales, who reduced his holdings for the first time by 70%."

"Jenna is run by a former organized crime conspirer: NY State records show Jenna Concrete Corporation's CEO is Carmine Valente (source) Valente Industries was a ready-mix concrete company in NYC. The company was shut down in 1993 after a mafia defector claimed that it was conspiring with two mafia families in exchange for union protection."

"Mr. Nardelli is widely recognized as one of the best operating executives in the United States, having grown sales and profits of several businesses for nearly 30 years at General Electric Co., doubling the size of The Home Depot as CEO, then saving Chrysler and its iconic brands when the American auto industry began to collapse in 2008."

"“[ADP is] very focused on per share value – short-term oriented. [They] didn’t have a 5 year vision, no strategic focus on ‘where we want to lead in 5 years,’ ‘where we need to invest.’ More about consistent results. Top management is very incentivized by share value, stock option packages.” — Former CEO and COO of [Redacted] ADP Country"

"So, we’ve said most of the $10 million is around COGS synergies. So, we would expect gross margin to expand 200 basis points to 300 basis points over the next few years.... we’ve always – we’ve never been disappointed, and we’ve always overachieved our synergy number. And I’ll probably leave it at that — CEO Waterpik Deal Call, July 2017"

"The contrast with Welltower is stark in our view. Moghadam built Prologis from scratch over 40+ years, voluntarily caps his pay at $25 million, and accepts that his outperformance plan sometimes pays zero. Mitra has been CEO for 5.5 years, inherited his portfolio, and structured a plan that could pay him 100 times Moghadam's annual cap."

"“...I feel great about where we are with the studio. Let's not lose sight of the fact that in the last year, the studio had some real success, not to suggest that we didn't have some films that were not successful that we were really disappointed in, but we also had some great success too.” — Robert A. Iger, CEO & Director, January 2024"

"[...] the Board regularly reviews its leadership structure and considers this to be a key component of fulfilling its fiduciary duties to our shareholders. Importantly, the Board has chosen to maintain flexibility in its leadership structure and has not mandated the separation of the Chairman and CEO roles — BlackRock Proxy Filing 2024"

"[...] the Board regularly reviews its leadership structure and considers this to be a key component of fulfilling its fiduciary duties to our shareholders. Importantly, the Board has chosen to maintain flexibility in its leadership structure and has not mandated the separation of the Chairman and CEO roles — BlackRock Proxy Filing 2024"

"In addition, our Trustpilot scores are the highest among money transfer service companies in the U.S. and among the best in other regions. We are committed to simply being the best provider in every corridor we serve and continuously improving in every aspect so we can deliver on promises, win trust and grow. — CEO on Trustpilot Q3'23"

"“…I feel great about where we are with the studio. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that in the last year, the studio had some real success, not to suggest that we didn’t have some films that were not successful that we were really disappointed in, but we also had some great success too.” — Robert A. Iger, CEO & Director, January 2024"

""Now the team at Bemis and Amcor have worked together to identify and evaluate the cost synergies related to this combination and on slide 14 we've laid out some of the details related to those synergies. Based on this work together we're confident in being able to generate $180 million in cost synergies." — CEO Ron Delia, Aug 6, 2018"

"We’re honored to be selected for Stage B of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative. With commercial deployments of IonQ quantum systems worldwide – and availability on all three of the major cloud platforms – IonQ is uniquely positioned to contribute practical insights and technical advancements to this initiative. — IonQ CEO de Masi"

"What makes WTRG’s Board believe that the CEO of Lancaster Colony (a food company) is an “Audit Committee Financial Expert”? Examining his work experience dating back to 2002 shows that he held predominately food marketing roles and we find no evidence he has served on any other public company audit committee before this current role."

"In contrast to the CEO’s claim that “VW has gone all in,” VW comments strike us as ambivalent and noncommittal at best - indicating any orders/commitments would be a decade away; that they’re evaluating other solid-state players; and that it’s unclear who they’ll select, assuming that hurdles to solid-state batteries can be overcome."

"Documents from a class action shareholder lawsuit against Lumenis Ltd. allege that its predecessor ESC Medical Systems (where CEO Gerstel was VP Operations/COO) was, "a company fraught with problems, among other things poor product reliability, physician lawsuits, increasing inventories, and poor collections of accounts receivables.""

""In the last [few] years, we have really been aligning the whole company very strongly behind our agenda, which is nutrition, health and wellness..." — Paul Bulcke, CEO, Sept 2012; "Big trend, health and wellness – this is no longer a trend or a fad. This is here to stay. Profound changes are underway..." — Indra Nooyi, CEO, Feb 2011"

"“Overstock sells lots of products today where installation and assembly make complete sense from a customer perspective that they should be included,” said Matt Ehrlichman, CEO of Porch.com. Customers expect installation services for everything from furniture to light fixtures, all of which are sold on Overstock’s online marketplace."

""For the long term, we expect the company to grow sales at 7% and earnings at 12% compounded annually. These performance goals reflect the diversity of our portfolio, attractive returns on growth investments, such as research and development and capital expenditures, plus benefits from ongoing productivity." — DuPont's CEO (12/13/11)"

"And just finally, wrapping up, what makes Boot Barn unique? We are truly a lifestyle brand. I think sometimes we're kind of grouped in with just specialty retail in general, but we are truly a lifestyle brand. We have an extremely loyal customer. The vast majority of our sales go through our B Rewarded loyalty program. — CEO Conroy"

""TurboTax and H&R Block now use AI for tax advice. It’s awful." — Geoffrey A. Fowler, Washington Post. "We have always believed our customers can benefit most from the power of AI, bringing professional grade resources to individuals that need it most around the world, tipping the odds in their favor." — Sasan Goodarzi, Intuit CEO."

""We are pleased to welcome Ferebee Corporation to the Construction Partners family of companies, expanding our geographic footprint into western North Carolina. As a platform acquisition, Ferebee creates another engine for growth driven by a talented and experienced team under the leadership of Chris and David Ferebee." — CEO Smith"

"These eight CEOs were not charismatic visionaries, nor were they drawn to grandiose strategic pronouncements. They were practical and agnostic in temperament, and they systematically tuned out the noise of conventional wisdom by fostering a certain simplicity of focus, a certain asperity in their cultures and their communications."

"Peter joined Marvell at a critical time for the Company and drove crucial changes that were needed to get the company back on track. His insights and influence as a director have catalyzed the changes that have transformed Marvell into a healthy, well-functioning company with strong financial results. — Matt Murphy, CEO of Marvell"

"In Turkey - as in Germany - we are a clear market leader with our outside advertising with an over 50% market share. In 2015, we earned an operating EBITDA result of €14,000,000 with a cash flow of over €80,000,000 in sales in an admittedly relatively difficult market environment from a geopolitical perspective. — Udo Müller (CEO)"

"“The lead independent director facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning” — BlackRock Investment Stewardship, Proxy voting guidelines for U.S. securities Effective as of January 2024"

""As you’ll be aware, 2025 Brent strip is at around $75 per barrel, and other commodities and prices, including refining margins, are under pressure. Were these prices to play out, the rule of thumb impact in 2025 would be around $4 billion – but that’s a price call that we don’t know at this stage" — BP CEO at the Q2 2024 results."

""Dr. Ignarro has basically started the world on the track of nitric oxide, has made the world understand that a healthy blood flow is a healthy body. And we are the first company to come out with a nitric oxide product in the marketplace, it was laughed at initially and now it is copied." — Michael Johnson, Herbalife CEO, 11-28-07"

""The lead independent director facilitates discussion among independent directors on key issues and concerns outside of full board meetings, including contributing to the oversight of CEO and management succession planning" — BlackRock Investment Stewardship, Proxy voting guidelines for U.S. securities Effective as of January 2024"

"“And I’m not sure another studio will ever achieve some of the numbers that we achieved. I mean, we got to the point where if a film didn’t do a billion dollars in global box office, we were disappointed…That’s an unbelievably high standard and I think we have to get more realistic.” — Robert A. Iger, CEO & Director, November 2023"

""Reading the NTSB report makes it clear that meaningful safety improvements require a comprehensive industry effort that brings together railcar and tank car manufacturers, railcar owners and lessors, and the railroad companies," said Norfolk Southern President and CEO Alan H. Shaw. — Norfolk Southern Press Release (Mar. 6, 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” — Amcor CEO, Aug 7, 2018"

"Despite FND getting ensnared in an industry-wide scandal that alleged products sold were falsely labeled as compliant with formaldehyde emissions standards and settling a lawsuit for $16 million, management was rewarded with merit-based salary increases and the CEO received a discretionary bonus for "exceptional" performance."

""If you look at our TSR performance since July of 2022, when I moved into the CEO position, TSR has been something like 66%, 65%, again, higher than the basket of our refining peers, higher than the S&P Energy Index as well. And so all of those metrics are firm and indisputable." — Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier, March 18, 2025"

"“If you look at our TSR performance since July of 2022, when I moved into the CEO position, TSR has been something like 66%, 65%, again, higher than the basket of our refining peers, higher than the S&P Energy Index as well. And so all of those metrics are firm and indisputable.” — Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier, March 18, 2025"

""If you look at our TSR performance since July of 2022, when I moved into the CEO position, TSR has been something like 66%, 65%, again, higher than the basket of our refining peers, higher than the S&P Energy Index as well. And so all of those metrics are firm and indisputable." — Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier, March 18, 2025"

"We're making great progress on integration planning for our announced combination with Viterra. The teams are working well together, confirming our confidence that we will be a more complete, one combined company. Their commitment will ensure that we can effectively serve our customers from day 1. — CEO, Q3'24 Conference Call"

"Our proposal is not rooted in a mere abstract preference for the separation of the Chair (to be independent) and CEO, disregarding other viable governance structures. Rather, it stems from our specific assessment of the unequivocal failure of BlackRock's governance to provide independent oversight on the company's management"

"“Yes...on #OTC. Uplisting soon.” — Director Batstone; “We are planning on uplisting in the next three months. We have a lot of people circling the wagons, I should say, to give us money. We are looking for the right money now, at this point in time. We already have the money to uplist. We want to get bigger.” — CEO Doug Cole"

"“Japan is a massive opportunity for us. Today, Holters are reimbursed at a higher rate in Japan than what they are reimbursed in the U.S. I think that bodes very well for the reimbursement rate we're likely to see get established in the Japanese market for long-term patching.” — CEO Blackford, J.P. Morgan Conference, 1/13/25"

"What we acquired is an opco. So, the propco has been maybe sitting on Tenet's balance sheet due to the accounting for leases...We acquired this opco for GBP10 million enterprise value and we have a propco arrangement with another real estate company for the next 25 years. — NMC CEO remarks on H1 2018 Earnings Call, Bloomberg"

"Underperforming multi-segment players trade at a lower value, underperforming pure play companies trade at a lower value. The common denominator between the two groups is not structure, it's performance. So, in our case, if we perform better, there will be no conglomerate discount. — Paul Keel, then-CEO (at 2021 Analyst Day)"

"Analyst: “We always talk about incremental margins with you.... You got all this operating leverage. How do we think about operating margin then?” Mark Donegan (PCC CEO): “And again they move, but I think that the range in which you should expect to see it move is somewhere between that 35% and 45%, 48%.” — December 3, 2014"

"If you look at our TSR performance since July of 2022, when I moved into the CEO position, TSR has been something like 66%, 65%, again, higher than the basket of our refining peers, higher than the S&P Energy Index as well. And so all of those metrics are firm and indisputable. — Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier, March 18, 2025"

"“He’s [Bill Ackman] saying that somehow the company is insular and that people stick around forever, and the people that have worked for me have been around the company for a long, long time. What he’s not aware of is that my team is almost entirely new from the time I became CEO.” — Carlos Rodriguez (CNBC August 10, 2017)"

""There's a lot. A lot of genres haven't been explored here." — Andrew Paradise (CEO, Skillz) in Forbes. "We are excited to partner with such a well-known and storied brand, now, everyone around the world can compete for cash and glory with the Big Buck Hunter mobile app powered by Skillz." — Andrew Paradise (CEO, Skillz)."

"Now SRS, they're talking to either customer set. As I said early, they have 130,000 different customers. They're calling on more, you know, the roofer, the pool installer, the hardscape installer, the landscape professional. All those Pros, as we've said for ages, almost all Pros shop at Home Depot. — CEO on SRS deal call"

"You will also see in our compensation discussion and analysis in our annual circular that in 2018 management is now compensated on cash flow in addition to revenue and EBITDA. And that'll be a friendly reminder to everyone on the leadership team to pay attention to that. — Maxar CEO Lance Q4'17 Conference Call (Feb 2018)"

"“Behind all the words and the beautiful photos and stuff, what's happening...there's miniaturization of every experiment that's happening... What Ginkgo started doing early on was bringing in-house automation that would allow you to use 384 well plates.” — Former Ginkgo employee, longtime direct report to CEO Jason Kelly"

"At the end of the day, we believe LODE has failed to deliver on its corporate promises, has a subpar CEO, and illiquid assets of little productive value. We believe the LiNiCo transaction won't succeed and that investors should value LODE at a multiple of its cash. Our price target is approximately $0.35 - $0.70 /share."

"“As a board member Nelson is about the numbers, about the data and how to make operating performance better, faster. He was collegial and open minded. He was focused on the best path to increase long term value.” — Candace Kendle, Former Co-Founder and CEO, Kendle International, and former Director of H.J. Heinz Company"

""I think we have to start by remembering that the basic requirement for any business hasn't changed. The fundamental test of success and sustainability is performance - the delivery of real results, quarter by quarter, year by year against promises..." — Rodney Chase, Shareholder Nominee, Former Deputy CEO BP, May 2000"

""The key word in describing my relationship with Nelson is that it has been constructive. Nelson and I worked best together by being transparent and candid with each other, leveraging his experiences and that of his team as we worked through various challenges." — Joseph A. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, Legg Mason, Inc."

"AS A BOARD MEMBER NELSON IS ABOUT THE NUMBERS, ABOUT THE DATA AND HOW TO MAKE OPERATING PERFORMANCE BETTER, FASTER. HE WAS COLLEGIAL AND OPEN MINDED. HE WAS FOCUSED ON THE BEST PATH TO INCREASE LONG TERM VALUE. — Candace Kendle, Former Co-Founder and CEO, Kendle International, and former Director of H.J. Heinz Company"

""The key word in describing my relationship with Nelson is that it has been constructive. Nelson and I worked best together by being transparent and candid with each other, leveraging his experiences and that of his team as we worked through various challenges." — Joseph A. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, Legg Mason, Inc."

"AS A BOARD MEMBER NELSON IS ABOUT THE NUMBERS, ABOUT THE DATA AND HOW TO MAKE OPERATING PERFORMANCE BETTER, FASTER. HE WAS COLLEGIAL AND OPEN MINDED. HE WAS FOCUSED ON THE BEST PATH TO INCREASE LONG TERM VALUE. — Candace Kendle, Former Co-Founder and CEO, Kendle International, and former Director of H.J. Heinz Company"

""The key word in describing my relationship with Nelson is that it has been constructive. Nelson and I worked best together by being transparent and candid with each other, leveraging his experiences and that of his team as we worked through various challenges." — Joseph A. Sullivan, Chairman and CEO, Legg Mason, Inc."

"Essentially, I think what's going to happen is at the end of 2025, they're going to have all these investigations wrapped up, and they're going to put everything down, and they're going to pick winners, and they're going to pick losers. — CEO of a major OPO (Organ Procurement Organization), longtime industry executive"

"From the perspective of a recent VP in C3's financial industry vertical, the sales cycle was at least 18 months in late 2020. C3's prospectus notes sales cycles of generally six to nine months, while the CEO recently references a 17 month figure, but is claiming it's down to 4.5 months and is decreasing every month."

""In October, we acquired Antuit for approximately $145 million to further advance our Enterprise Asset Intelligence vision. This high-margin Software as a Service business generated sales of approximately $27 million in 2020, nearly doubling over a 3-year period." — CEO Gustafsson, Q3'21 Conf. Call, November 2, 2021"