Why Lifeway Foods Stock Exploded 44% Today

Shares of Lifeway Foods (NASDAQ: LWAY) soared 44% through 10:35 a.m. ET Tuesday morning on some explosive news from the boardroom.

In a press release this morning, former company chairperson (and co-founder) Ludmila Smolyansky and former COO Edward Smolyansky (her son) announced they have filed a “consent statement” with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The statement describes something the mother-and-son team is calling a “Life Back to Lifeway” campaign. And its aim seems to be to oust their daughter/sister Julie Smolyansky from her position as CEO.

In fact, according to the PR, mother and son aim to replace Lifeway’s entire board of directors, and the CEO, too, in order to repair “repeated failures of corporate governance” and improve shareholder returns. The pair accuse the CEO of operating “on autopilot” while at the same time harboring “personal agendas” and “missing critical market opportunities due to a lack of strategic vision.”

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