By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer appointed a former chief executive officer at Vanguard, the drug giant’s biggest investor, to its board on Tuesday as it faces pressure from activist hedge fund Starboard Value.
Mortimer “Tim” Buckley served as Vanguard’s chairman and chief executive until this year when he announced his retirement. Buckley is 55.
Vanguard, one of the world’s biggest asset managers, is Pfizer’s largest shareholder, owning nearly 9% of the company’s stock, according to a regulatory filing.
Buckley’s appointment was announced one day before Pfizer and Starboard Value are scheduled to meet, giving the hedge fund, which has built a $1 billion position, a chance to discuss the company’s strategy and its stock price.
Starboard has not publicly detailed its concerns about Pfizer but people familiar with its thinking said the hedge fund is concerned about the stock price and spate of mergers and acquisitions. A spokesman for the hedge fund had no comment on the board news.
Pfizer, which has a market capitalization of $165 billion, said it began its search for a new board member in May. It named Buckley days after Starboard’s campaign at the drugs giant became public.
Pfizer delivered the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine but its stock price has lost nearly half of its value since 2021 when demand for the vaccine was high.
The standoff between the company and hedge fund took an unusual turn last week. Two former Pfizer executives had indicated they were working with Starboard to press for changes at Pfizer but then reversed course and said they supported the company’s current CEO, Albert Bourla.
At Pfizer, Buckley will join the governance and sustainability committee and the audit committee.
Since Bourla became CEO in 2019, six new directors have been named to the board.
Buckley joined Vanguard 33 years ago as founder John Bogle’s research assistant and held top roles before being named CEO in 2018. Salim Ramji took over as Vanguard CEO in July, the company said in a release.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss with additional reporting by Michael Erman; Editing by Christina Fincher)