Activist investor Starboard Value takes $1 billion stake in Pfizer-WSJ By Investing.com

Investing.com– Activist investor Starboard Value took a stake of about $1 billion Pfizer Inc (NYSE: ) and wants the drugmaker to make sweeping changes to turn around its lagging performance, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

Starboard approached two former Pfizer executives — Ian Read and Frank D’Amelio — who in turn expressed interest in helping, the WSJ report said. Read was the former CEO of Pfizer, while D’Amelio served as CFO until 2021.

Pfizer benefited greatly from demand for its vaccine during the COVID-19 pandemic. But demand has cooled over the past two years, while earnings and stock performance lagged after the firm overestimated future demand related to the pandemic.

The firm has also been accused of a lack of discipline in its pandemic-era deal-making and has outbid rivals Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: ) and Novo Nordisk (NYSE: ) in launching wildly popular weight-loss drugs.

Starboard recently took a stake in Starbucks (NASDAQ: ) with the goal of giving the coffee giant a boost in its stock price. He was also active in the technology sector.