Starboard Nominates Directors To Autodesk Board: 'Complete And Utter Lack Of Proper Oversight'

Autodesk Inc ADSK shares are in the spotlight Wednesday after activist investor Starboard Value sent a letter to Autodesk shareholders.

What Happened: Starboard sent a letter to shareholders of Autodesk Wednesday morning indicating that the company is misleading shareholders about financial targets and total shareholder returns.

“Ultimately, we believe the Company's reliance on falsehoods and obfuscation on margin progress is emblematic of the underlying problem: a complete and utter lack of proper oversight and accountability to shareholders,” the activist said Wednesday morning.

“In allowing the Company to propagate these falsehoods, the Board of Directors has unfortunately and yet again demonstrated it is not well-equipped to hold management accountable.”

Starboard announced the nomination of former Cadence Design Systems CFO Geoff Ribar, Deloitte & Touche’s Christie Simons and Starboard CEO Jeff Smith to the company’s board.

See Also: What’s Driving the Market Sentiment Around Autodesk?

Starboard took a $500 million stake in Autodesk almost a year ago and pushed for changes, urging shareholders to consider opportunities for improved corporate governance and enhanced value creation. The activist lost its bid to appoint nominees due to missed deadlines, per Reuters.

Now Starboard is arguing that Autodesk is overspending and shares have meaningfully underperformed peers over the short and long term. The activist believes board changes will help lead to value creation and improved stock performance.

“While we firmly believe Autodesk can be significantly more profitable than it is today and reach non-GAAP operating margins of 41 to 42% by FY2028, we believe it is imperative that the Company be governed by a well-functioning Board that can, and will, hold management accountable,” Starboard said.

ADSK Price Action: Autodesk shares were up 0.08% at $273.31 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.

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