An Activist Gains a Board Seat? Say Goodbye to the CEO

Spencer Klein spoke to Agenda about recent data that suggests a higher rate of CEO exits at companies where activist investors have gained board seats.

“It’s a fairly common activism strategy to try to create a wedge either between members of the board of between members of the board and management,” Spencer said. “So, attacking the CEO is consistent with that.”

“We are seeing a renewed shift back towards CEOs either being an initial target of the activist campaign or being used as a scapegoat during the course of the campaign,” Spencer explained, adding that he believes activists target CEOs to “affect change more rapidly” and that they are “an easy target as the face of the company’s successes and failures.”

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