((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
(Rewrite to change sourcing, added details on stock price and M&A)
Activist investor Starboard Value has taken a roughly $1 billion stake in Pfizer PFE.N and wants the U.S. pharmaceutical giant to make changes to turn around its performance, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Sunday. case.
Starboard also approached Ian Read, a former Pfizer chief executive, and Frank D’Amelio, who served as chief financial officer until 2021, and both expressed interest in helping the activist investor, the company said. sources.
Ian Read served as chief executive until Albert Bourla took the position in 2019. Bourla was instrumental in working with BioNTech to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.
Pfizer declined to comment and Starboard did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Investors have punished the company as it faces a sharp decline in sales of its COVID vaccines and drugs, a weaker-than-expected launch of its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and disappointing clinical data for an anti-obesity pill that she was developing.
The company’s stock price fell to $28.58 on Friday, down from around $41 in 2019 when Mr. Bourla took office.
Although the company was quick to develop the vaccine during the pandemic, its fortunes have waned since the world returned to normal.
Bourla has also invested heavily in acquisitions, spending some $70 billion since 2020. He bought Seagen for $43 billion, Biohaven for $13 billion, Arena for $6 billion, Global Blood Therapeutics (GBT) for $5 billion. billion dollars and Trillium for 2 billion dollars.
Some investors criticized the frenzy and were particularly concerned about GBT, whose main sickle cell drug had to be withdrawn from the market and whose studies were halted due to harmful side effects.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report Starboard’s participation.
The investment firm has already called for changes at News Corp NWSA.O , Salesforce CRM.N and Match Group MTCH.O .
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