Barbarians in the Boardroom

Part 4

Conclusion

11

March of the activists

Boomtown USA

So far in Barbarians in the Boardroom we have looked in detail at a handful of the highest-profile activist campaigns from recent years. In each case, activists have had varying degrees of success, from gaining board seats and engineering wholesale changes at their targets, to losing costly proxy fights and takeover battles. We have also seen the different ways activist targets have responded, from outright rejection to building close relationships with their pursuers. We have seen CEOs lose their jobs and directors lose their seats, while their companies have been forced to lay off staff, return more money to shareholders, spin off subsidiaries and even sell themselves.

The majority of ...