Callouts & quotes from 2,101+ activist slides

"We are further concerned that Nova's shareholder Kushkush Investments Pty Ltd, which appears linked to its ASIC-charged former CEO Kimelman through his wife, has a registered and head office address at 7 Sarah Crescent, Templestowe, Victoria, Australia which appears to be a residential address."

"“...Just wanted to say thanks for all the pushing on us over the past year. We have a lot more we need to get done but we have a completely new way of seeing [the] world that is extremely helpful to how we’re executing now. So, thanks.” — CEO Aaron Levie, Email to Peter Feld – September 3, 2020"

"“Over the course of his 38-year career, Rodney has made an outstanding contribution to BP. He has played a critical part in all the major developments of recent years that have transformed the company into one of the world's leading energy businesses.” — Lord Browne, CEO of BP Plc, January 2003"

""The Fed Funds Rate has a big impact on the TED spread, which has a big impact on our securities lending activity...when rates eventually go up and you get back to the more normalized TED spread, this will be a much more attractive business financially" — Bob Kelly, CEO, 3/2/10 CLSA Analyst Day"

"Mr. Smith’s reported compensation far surpasses that of the highest-paid CEOs last year at much larger companies and is about 20 times the median pay for an S&P 500 chief, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Axon is too small to be in the S&P 500 index — Spruce Point Capital Management"

"We are writing to you today because we believe the Company has a great deal of potential that is unfortunately not being realized. This is due to Upwork’s lack of strategic clarity and focus, ineffective execution, poor capital allocation, and revolving management team under CEO Hayden Brown."

"“Nelson was quick to recognize that removing Snapple from a bureaucratic Quaker Oats culture would enable entrepreneurialism and innovation. The result was a dramatic sales turnaround and more than quadrupling of company value in just 3 years.” — Mike Weinstein (CEO of Snapple from 1997-2000)"

"At launch in 2021, Element AIM will be the world's first and only analyzer designed specifically for veterinary medicine to do both fecal and urine imaging in a fully automated manner that is supported by AI for the best user accuracy and efficiency — CEO Wilson at Investor Day, November 2020"

"As Goosehead’s largest shareholder and the person with the most to lose if we get things wrong and as someone with an intimate understanding of Goosehead's needs, I'm highly confident that moves we're making are the right ones to drive long-term shareholder value. — CEO, Q3 2022 earnings call"

"After missing consensus EPS for 6 straight quarters, a string of exploration failures, and substantial capex overruns, John Hess announces that the Company is in midst of transformation that started in 2009 (later revised to 2010 start). This is company's 7th restructuring under current CEO."

"We believe investors in GP should take a close look at the company's Chairman, CEO and largest shareholder, Fraser Atkinson, whose track record points not just to an inability to manage the business to its financial targets but to an alarming disregard for his fiduciary duty to shareholders."

"Spruce Point believes that changes in Executive and Board leadership at Enfusion are highly troubling. Notably, at least two members have served at companies targeted recently by other short sellers while the CEO was Chief Risk Officer at a firm that settled with the SEC for illegal trading."

""The power of the network effect is important at Clear, and we have aggressively grown the network in travel and beyond. This network is a key value creator for our members, saving them time and bringing them joy in more places." — CEO Last Statement on Network Effect: Q1 2024 on May 8, 2024"

"On July 30th, 2023 – Puck reported that Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs – two former executives (and now Disney competitors!) who were viable CEO succession candidates that were passed over prior to their departures years ago – “have both been engaged individually by Disney to consult with Iger”"

"On July 30th, 2023 – Puck reported that Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs – two former executives (and now Disney competitors!) who were viable CEO succession candidates that were passed over prior to their departures years ago – "have both been engaged individually by Disney to consult with Iger""

"When do you think the FlightWave factor will be up and running? That's a good question. So we are just starting to move in now. We just signed a lease. We hope to have more of a start-up style factory in about 3 or 4 weeks where basically, they're — Thompson (CEO) on December earnings call."

"As evidence of Xylem’s failures in Digital, we point out that it quietly covered up reassignment of executive Al Cho who was formerly the Chief Strategy & Digital Officer. In late 2022, CEO Decker claimed Sai Allavarpu would be its first Chief Digital Officer, but that clearly is not true."

"Spruce Point has concerns about financial relationships and flows of payments between C3, its CEO's foundation, two directors and its sales partners. Spruce Point asks C3 to clarify the nature of the relationships and economic value proposition to C3 shareholders with enhanced disclosures."

"Mr. Terino’s depth of experience serving as CEO, CFO, COO, and a director of public and private companies in the technology and eCommerce industries, together with his substantial expertise in finance, restructuring, and corporate governance, makes him well qualified to serve on the Board."

"“As we look specifically at the first quarter, our results were again very consistent and dependable. A 6% increase in FFO per share to $0.37; 3% same-store NOI growth, the 10th consecutive quarter of growth at 3% or higher” —Chairman, CEO, and President, Scott Peters (1Q15 Earnings Call)."

"“...we’re adjusting our executional model against the dynamic of this mainstreaming of online education in a way that meets this new market dynamic. Competition for students has increased. Programs will be slightly smaller than they were in the past.” — TWOU CEO, July 2019 Q2 Earnings Call"

"On the sales side, I want to talk about sales and talk about our leasing activity and our leasing spread... The moods of the retailers, and you've heard this on the other conference calls with our peers, is improving dramatically. — Art Coppola, Chairman & CEO of Macerich, November 5, 2009"

"As part of our diligence, we spoke with a former senior executive from the early days at Monolithic. His insights about the Board, and notably that the Audit Chairman was asked to leave for “asking questions the CEO didn’t like” that “rocked the boat” should be viewed as a major red flag."

"Investors should be on red alert that Zebra's Chief Accounting Officer worked at Perdoceo Education Corp. (Nasdaq: PRDO, formerly Career Education Corp. "CEC") as CFO and SVP, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer during a period of intense scrutiny by the federal government."

"In short, we expect to return in cash about 59% of [the August 5, 2019] market capitalization to our shareholders while at the same time keeping an ownership in a predictable business that generates over 80% of today’s operating income. — NLOK CEO Vincent Pilette, Q1 FY2020 Earnings Call"

"But we think the combination of the 2 companies, plus our road map, plus our product strategy, will allow us to break through the pack much like Trade Desk did, and put us in a position to be the dominant independent scaled player on the SSP side. — Magnite CEO, Needham Conf May 19, 2020"

"We have specific concerns around ~$1 billion of revenue booked since 2020 with Frontier Communications (Nasdaq: FYBR), a material customer, which we argue should be evaluated as a related party because Dycom’s long-time CEO & Chairman has a brother that is a named executive at Frontier."

"“Our ability to adapt, evolve, and grow has generated a total return of 9,000% for our shareholders since our IPO in 1999. That is well in excess of the S&P 500 return of 490% and representative of a business model serving all our stakeholders” — CEO Larry Fink, 2024 Letter to investors"

""Our ability to adapt, evolve, and grow has generated a total return of 9,000% for our shareholders since our IPO in 1999. That is well in excess of the S&P 500 return of 490% and representative of a business model serving all our stakeholders" — CEO Larry Fink, 2024 Letter to investors"

""Most of Zillow's clients feel that Zillow will become less important to their lead generation efforts in the next 1 to 2 years. 60% of Zillow's Premier Agent client surveys stated that the value of the product is declining, and 5% said it's improving." — CoStar CEO, Q3'23 Earnings Call"

"We believe Evoqua and Xylem have misstated their interconnectedness. Evoqua CEO Keating said that Xylem was never a competitor, but more of a partner. Yet, his own employment agreement listed Xylem as a restricted enterprise and Xylem listed Evoqua as a competitor in its Annual Report."

""in the future, consistent with the Company's Corporate Governance Guidelines it is the Board of Director's intention to separate the positions of Chair and CEO and that the position of Chair shall be held by an independent director on the Board of Directors." — Office Depot 2011 Proxy"

"So our first primary focus around Software as a Service really is around the retail associate. We've got lots of other software offerings around RFID, around a robotic solution and others, but we've talked about it being more retail focus today. — CEO Burns, MS Conference March 6, 2023"

"we've always thought about kind of the long-term EBITDA margin in the mid 11s. — CEO Response (Nov 23, 2021); So as you said, kind of long-term average for EBITDA has been the middle average. — CEO Response (June 14, 2022); we think that's an opportunity. — CEO Response (May 22, 2024)"

"With ~30% of revenues tied to BH, the equity story is very dependent on success of the partnership between Baker Hughes and C3. However, multiple contract amendments pushing revenue into the future, and the resignation of BH's CEO from C3's Board all point to a troubled relationship."

""We put together a political action committee inside our company. I am in Washington every quarter, if not more than that. I have a list of Senators and Congressman that I go in and see. . . ." — Michael O. Johnson, CEO, Goldman Sachs 14th Annual Global Retailing Conference, 9/5/2007"

""We are pleased to announce the involvement of Dr. Miller, a leading expert in treating patients with rare eating disorders, in the planning for a clinical trial evaluating the safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy of TRP-8802, Jim Kuo, Tryp's CEO, said in a press release." — Jim Kuo"

"The Company leases property from PJD Properties Inc. Upon further investigation, we find that this is an entity controlled by CEO Patrick J. Dovigi. Why didn't GFL describe this in its notes on related party transactions, and what, if any, other transactions are not being disclosed?"

"Spruce Point believes it is extremely bearish that Generac’s Chief Marketing Officer (who was also named President of the new Energy Technology organization) resigned in Feb 2022, shortly after the CEO claimed he and his team were “incredibly bullish” on Generac’s long-term outlook."

"Ms. Alvarado served on NewPower's board alongside several notorious Enron executives, including Richard Causey, Enron's Chief Accounting Officer; Ken Lay, Enron's Chairman; and Lou Pai, a key Enron executive who held multiple leadership roles, including CEO of Enron Energy Services."

"So as much as I would like to talk about that deal with Raytheon on that particular transaction, I don't know anything about it. And we can somehow hold the session to talk about it. How big is the opportunity in defense and Intel, it's freaking huge. — CEO Siebel, Q3 2021 Conf Call"

"Finally, the fourth major trend deals with the use of big data, neural networks related to machine learning, artificial intelligence and data analytics to increase our clients' efficiency and reduce cost in evaluating their reservoirs. — Core CEO David Demshur, Q1 2017 earnings call"

"It seems to us as if the Compensation Committee (having no Fortress Directors) waited until after the resignation of the Fortress Directors to disclose that it did not use any of information the compensation consultant provided to benchmark Andy Smith’s compensation as incoming CEO"

"How can the CEO, two Board members and the outside legal counsel of DSP be expected to make decisions that benefit DSP, like re-entering the licensing business and competing against CEVA, when they have a substantial economic interest in CEVA that could be harmed by such decisions?"

"“Disingenuous” — Referenced in a 2016 email regarding Chairman and CEO Christopher Franklin. “Financial Expert” — Title given to Audit Chairman Lee C. Stewart. “fraud” and having “many characteristics of a Ponzi scheme” — Bankruptcy trustee description of Fletcher Asset Management."

"For the stock market speculators interested in enriching themselves through manipulation, information arbitrage and a “zero sum” gain, all at the expense of our investors, I am certain that their actions will ultimately catch up with them. — Zheng Cheng, Chairman, CEO and President"

"Just to talk about Tour Water. I think most of you saw some of the cans here today. We have decided to take the Tour Water brand. It's going through our beer distribution network, which is the CANarchy network. It's sort of -- we think it's very opportune. — CEO Sacks, Jan 16, 2024"

"By 1995, we had reached a point where HBO wasn't going to grow as it had until then. We wanted to be a company that did things differently. But by that time, we weren't anymore the company we were pretending to be. If we want to differentiate ourselves — Chris Albrecht, CEO of HBO."

"“AS OTHERS HAVE MERGED INTO MEGACOMPANIES, WE ARE BECOMING MORE STREAMLINED AND FOCUSED. AS OTHERS HAVE BROADENED THEIR PORTFOLIOS, WE ARE FOCUSING ON SELECT AREAS OF MEDICAL NEED.” — JIM CORNELIUS, FORMER BRISTOL-MYERS CHAIRMAN & CEO AND CREATOR OF THE “STRING OF PEARLS” STRATEGY"

"“... Amongst the customers, women represent about half” — President Hasebe, Meeting with Oasis, June 2024. “A disproportionate number of our consumers are women (...) the company heavily markets its products [to women]” — Jon Moeller, CEO, P&G – Cincinnati Enquirer, February 2024."

"Due to competitive considerations which are increasing, I will not be providing additional information related to Kratos' UTAP-22 at this time. However, we are making no significant additional investment in the Tornado aircraft at this time. — Kratos CEO (Q1 2016 conference call)"

"It’s the recruiting, meaning bringing new distributors into our company, which is the most vital part of our bloodstream. We bring new distributors in – we grow. It’s that simple. And the company has built its whole reputation, its whole life, on recruiting. — CEO Michael Johnson"

"Elliott has engaged Mr. Lawson as a consultant on its investment in Arconic and believes that Mr. Lawson should be a leading candidate to become the Company’s CEO, as he has the ideal set of skills needed to turn around Arconic’s woefully and continually underperforming business"

"While earlier investors like Accel, Amadeus, and Meritech will be big winners upon IPO, Wellington won't make a killing. Davda is a shareholder through secondary transactions. He also called ForeScout a "dinosaur" for going public at 17 years old. — Atish Davda, CEO at EquityZen"

""Early data has exceeded our expectations, with the advertisers in the pilot seeing substantial returns, often surpassing those from other media channels and, in many cases, experiencing nearly 100% incrementality from our traffic." — APP CEO Adam Foroughi, Q3 2024 earnings call"

"“I have met the VP of Intel’s mask operation, a few times.” “yes, of course” “Yes, of course.” — Longtime, senior semicap equipment executive in Japan who is friendly with Lasertec’s CEO; “Of course.” — Former KLA executive in a leadership role in their EUV mask inspection group"

"We aren't going to give you a specific margin target, but it should result in between 100 to 150 bps of margin improvement annually on the pathway to narrow the margin gap with peers and deliver industry competitive margins. — CEO Alan Shaw, Q4 2023 Earnings Call, Jan. 26, 2024"

""We are present in 14 countries. France, South Africa and French-speaking Switzerland currently represent 90% of our activity. But, among our some 2,500 customers, some are present in Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, in particular." — Serge Sozonoff, iKentoo CEO"

"In contrast to the QS CEO’s claims that VW has “seen the data” and “they’ve seen it works,” both VW employees indicated that VW has seen little: “the main issues our engineers and experts are raising are trust in the data, a lack of transparency”; “there are so many questions”"

""The regulator found this service to be customer friendly and in compliance to the license conditions. While our service had passed the test of the regulator, the DoT is reportedly likely to impose penalty on us without any opportunity of personal hearing." — Bharti Airtel CEO"