Callouts & quotes from 349+ activist slides

"I personally stand by and guarantee that the audited financial statements in the reports filed are accurate, and any material connected parties’ transactions have been disclosed in our management discussions and analysis. — Allen Chan, Sino-Forest Chairman / CEO on TRE’s June 14, 2011 conference call."

"In Joe Lee’s final public appearance as Darden’s Chairman, he said the following words, which reveal the most critical flaw in Darden’s current mindset – you must be a great restaurant operator to run restaurants that create a great experience while simultaneously generating significant profits."

"Also, on February 1, 2006, Douglas D. Cole, the Company's prior Chief Executive Officer, was appointed to serve as the Executive Vice President of the Company. He will also continue to serve on the Board of Directors of the Company and will act as Vice Chairman of the Board. — 8-K Filed 1/9/06"

"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."

"“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)."

"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."

"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."

"Given that Kangmei’s ex-Chairman was sentenced to 12 years in prison and the company allegedly overstated its cash balance by $4.3B “using false documents,” we were further stunned to see a 2017 press release from Twist stating that Kangmei Group was actually an investor in the company."

"Without limiting our ability to propose different agenda items, we currently intend to propose resolutions at the AGM removing Bertrand Kan (Chairman), Peter Shore and Alexandra Reich as directors and appoint Jonathan Amouyal (of TCI) as a director and potentially additional directors."

"Note that the announcement states that these farms were designed for beef ranching, which strongly suggests that the farms were never intended to be operated by Huishan, and that the plan all along had been to use Huishan investors’ money to build beef cattle ranches for Chairman Yang."

"Giant's balance sheet is akin to a personal financing tool for the chairman — Ottoman Bay Research. Giant Interactive Group "is willing to cooperate with authorities in their investigation into allegations the company is involved in money laundering activities." — Dahe Daily reporter."

"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."

"“A recession is when you have to tighten your belt; depression is when you have no belt to tighten. When you've lost your trousers - you're in the airline business.” — Sir Adam Thomson, Founder and Chairman of British Caledonian, one of Britain's most successful independent airlines"

"“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"

"The SEC alleges that when the fraud was finally revealed, Satyam's then-Chairman, B. Ramalinga Raju, declared that maintaining Satyam's inflated revenues and profits "was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten." — SEC Charges Satyam with Financial Fraud"

"We do not believe the Audit Committee is made up of truly independent directors. For instance, according to Chinese filings, the Chairman of QTT's Audit Committee, Li Feng (李峰), appears to be a 12% shareholder of one of QTT's most significant undisclosed related party advertisers."

"“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"

"They [Chairman Ding Shizhong and Wu Yonghua] have a controlling stake in those companies, in those distributors. ... They have invested in this company. How to say? That is, they call these companies “subsidiaries” or “branch companies”. — Mr. A (former senior ANTA executive)"

"We are concerned that three of Parkland's directors have served on the Board for twelve years or more, including Chairman Jim Pantelidis who has served on the Board for 24 years, and Mr. Spencer and Mr. Bechtold who have been on the Board for 21 and 17 years, respectively."

"Further, appointing Bob Iger as Executive Chairman for 2 years as an outgoing CEO in our view was a very risky corporate governance decision as it set up his successor to fail with the prior CEO constantly watching over their shoulders - this is exactly what transpired"

""You know, it’s really amazing. I step out of the Ferrari, the Bentley, or whatever, and people go – ‘what does that guy do for a living? – and I go, ‘I’m an Herbalife independent distributor,’ and people are absolutely amazed" — Doran Andry, Chairman’s Club Member"

"“I work in the insurance industry because, as a balance-sheet guy, there’s a lot of junk you can play with… The fun you can engineer into an insurance company’s balance sheet is a lot more fun than some others.” — Dominic Frederico, 2001 (then Chairman of ACE INA)"

"It is unacceptable that the current Board was not made aware of the contract termination when it took place. We are taking immediate and appropriate measures to ensure that this type of communication breakdown is not repeated. — Dalton Gooding, Quintis Chairman"

"With the old CFO Donnelly out in Q4’18, the Chairman liquidating a sizeable holding starting in Feb 2019, the CFO is now referencing difficult comps on a “multi-year stack” basis – terminology we are not familiar with, but which certainly sounds concerning."

"Spruce Point is alarmed that PERI's audit chairman Michal Drayman held multiple financial roles at Lumenis Ltd. during the same period where the CFO and COO were charged with a scheme to fraudulently inflate revenues and misrepresent financial metrics."

"“Now, the integration value [of Speedway] is, I would say, proprietary. I can't give out a number from a competitive reason of that integration value, but I can say it is very significant...” — Gary Heminger, Former Chairman & CEO of Marathon Petroleum"

"Analytics is our long-term target to move from being a lower revenue generator in the low to mid-single digits to a medium revenue grower in the upper single digits over the long term. — CEO & Chairman Fernandez, Investor/Analyst Call, April 28, 2016"

"“Compensation is an important engine for a company's growth...(is it) linked to the growth of corporate value?... Verification against the market and global competitors is very important.” — Takatoshi Yamamoto, Hitachi Compensation Committee Chairman"

"The challenges Southwest faces today are immense: Years of mismanagement by Executive Chairman Gary Kelly and CEO Bob Jordan have caused the Company – and your investment – to decline in value and consistently underperform its significant potential."

""The FTC settlement is an acknowledgment that our business model is sound and underscores our confidence in our ability to move forward successfully, otherwise we would not have agreed to these terms." — Michael O. Johnson, chairman & CEO, Herbalife"

"The Board determined once again this year that the service of Mr. Fink as both BlackRock's CEO and Chairman is the most appropriate and effective leadership structure for the Board and the Company at the present time. — BlackRock Board of Directors"

"We sincerely thank Martin for his many contributions and dedication to METTLER TOLEDO. We regret that he has to retire due to his new commitments and wish him well as he takes on this time-intensive role. — Robert F. Spoerry, Chairman of the Board"

""You can't judge us on a one-year basis. You have to do it over the long term." — John Hess, Chairman & CEO Hess, January 2010; "There is no hiding place for underperformance." — Rodney Chase, Shareholder Nominee, Former Deputy CEO BP, May 2005"

"Anytime you can sell a volume of MDI on a rail car basis on a long-term fixed contract basis, that's going to be something we like. So not everything has to go through a system house... — Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President & CEO, December 2019"

"On October 26, 2021, days before his other 10b5-1 stock sale program started, the Chairman & CEO formed the Jagdfeld Giving Foundation for charitable purposes. This certainly makes it appear as if the CEO's stock sales are well intentioned."

""[The accounts] had been reviewed and scrubbed quarterly since they were put in place by Arthur Andersen. We thought all that had become history, and it was now news." — Former Enron Corp. Chairman Kenneth Lay during his 2006 criminal trial"

"Spruce Point is alarmed by the recent pattern of MSCI's investments and alliances which appear to financially benefit members of MSCI, Morgan Stanley and former Morgan Stanley executives in the sphere of CEO and Chairman Henry Fernandez."

"Speaking in unusually blunt terms, [the chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers global] told the Financial Times yesterday that Arata’s limited size reflected the availability of staff who met the firm performance standards. — Financial Times"

"The selection for this channel for the more detailed reply appears intended to help Chairman Larry Chen protect his personal reputation in China, rather than provide more or useful information to international investors and shareholders."

"“China is 1.3 billion people, you can recruit for a long time there before we had what was called the classic 'pop-and-drop' in that marketplace.” — Michael O. Johnson, Herbalife Chairman and CEO, HLF Q2 2008 Earnings Call, Aug. 6, 2008."

"Southwest’s Executive Chairman and its CEO, who have spent a combined 74 years at the Company, have presided over a period of severe underperformance, and they have demonstrated that they are not up to the task of modernizing Southwest."

"Southwest's Executive Chairman and its CEO, who have spent a combined 74 years at the Company, have presided over a period of severe underperformance, and they have demonstrated that they are not up to the task of modernizing Southwest."

"Southwest's Executive Chairman and its CEO, who have spent a combined 74 years at the Company, have presided over a period of severe underperformance, and they have demonstrated that they are not up to the task of modernizing Southwest."

"Southwest's Executive Chairman and its CEO, who have spent a combined 74 years at the Company, have presided over a period of severe underperformance, and they have demonstrated that they are not up to the task of modernizing Southwest."

"We question how AMT’s towers can be positioned to capture incremental growth when, according to their President, CEO, and Chairman, the vast majority of their towers are not located where the people generating the increased demand are."

"Alan Lindsay was UEC’s Chairman of the Board and large shareholder who was granted practically free equity. His son Oliver Lindsay is a convicted stock fraudster who served time in prison. CEO Adnani is related to the Lindsay family."

"It's official: Vivendi is Vincent Bolloré's family fiefdom. Shareholders can come along for the ride, but they must accept the risk that the chairman -- and largest holder with a 14 percent stake -- puts his interests before theirs."

"UEC’s Chairman of the Board does not put on his biography his prior role at C3 Energy (ultimately becoming C3.ai) which we believe has become the poster-child and case study of promotional, speculative, and serial AI disappointment."

""The best measure to judge a company's performance over time is growth of free cash flow per share, and we believe that's what drives long-term value for our owners." — Rich Templeton, Chairman and former CEO of Texas Instruments."

"Colin Whitehouse is listed as the Chairman of CSC. However, Mr. Whitehouse’s LinkedIn page indicates that Mr. Whitehouse is a non-executive chairman of CSC and that he apparently does not even work at the joint venture full-time."

"Spruce Point finds it highly unusual that all its executive officers serve at the discretion of the Board except the Financial Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, who serves at the discretion of Chairman and CEO Farrell."

"Enfusion's Audit Chairman was the Chief Accounting Officer and Controller at General Electric when the SEC slammed it with a $200 million penalty for misleading investors related to costs, receivables and financial estimates."

"Mr. Peltz has more than 40 years of business and investment experience, has served for over 20 years as the chairman and chief executive officer of public companies and has served on more than a dozen public company boards."

"We will generally vote for proposals looking to separate the CEO and Chairman roles unless the company has governance structures in place that can satisfactorily counterbalance a combined chairman and CEO/ president post."

"Mr. Kasich would be a valuable addition to the Board given his time serving as the 69th Governor of Ohio and as a member of Congress from central Ohio for 18 years where he was also Chairman of the House Budget Committee."

"Chairman & CEO Jason Jiang, board member & venture capital star Neil Shen, and close business associate of Mr. Jiang & venture capital star Xiong Xiangdong were among the selling shareholders of Allyes at the rich price."

"After two years as CEO, Dr. Kleinfeld re-combined the Chairman and CEO positions. Since then, Dr. Kleinfeld has held both positions. But a lead independent director can be just as good as an independent chairman, right?"

"In the course of our investigation, we frequently encountered Mr. Lin Sankuang’s name associated with a variety of ANTA controlled distributors, and were subsequently informed that he is a cousin (表弟) of the Chairman."