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Starboard Value has reportedly acquired about $1 billion in Pfizer stock, with the activist investor looking to turn around the struggling drug company. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starboard has approached Pfizer’s former chief executive Ian Reid and former finance chief Frank D’Amelio to help with the effort. Pfizer shares are up about 3% in premarket trading, but the stock price has nearly halved since the start of trading. The pandemic peaked in 2021 as demand for the company’s COVID-19 vaccine slumped.
Shares of Pfizer (PFE) are rising in pre-market trading on Monday after reports that activist investor Starboard Value has acquired about $1 billion in stock in the troubled drug company.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Starboard has approached Pfizer’s former chief executive Ian Reid and former finance chief Frank D’Amelio to help the company plan to improve its performance.
The hedge fund sees Pfizer, led by current CEO Albert Bourla, who took over from Mr. Reid in 2019, as lacking the M&A discipline of his predecessor, the report said. Since its acquisition by Bourla, Pfizer has spent billions of dollars acquiring companies involved in making cancer drugs, including the $43 billion acquisition of biotech Seegen last year.
Pfizer stock largely unchanged in 2024, S&P 500 up 21%
Pfizer’s stock price has nearly halved since the peak of the pandemic in 2021 as demand for its coronavirus vaccine slumped. That’s little changed this year, compared to the S&P 500’s 21% gain.
Pfizer’s stock price rose about 3% on the news, but the company recently announced that its sickle cell disease drug is being sold worldwide due to concerns that it could cause severe pain and death for patients. The price fell due to a lot recall.
Pfizer and Starboard did not immediately respond to Investopedia’s requests for comment.
