activist peace Anything on hand at Salesforce? With Monday’s announcement that Elliott is withdrawing his nomination to the board, CRM leaders seem to have been able to strike a peace deal.
It’s not clear what the deal will mean for the other four activist companies operating internally, but Elliott said it would be combined with several moves, including shareholder buybacks, dissolution of M&A groups and cost cutting. He seems pleased with the company’s recent changes, including a surprisingly strong quarter. Strategy (which, in part, leads to laying off his 10% of staff).
But this doesn’t necessarily mean Elliott’s work was done with the company, a person familiar with the deal told TechCrunch+.
Surprisingly, the terms between the two companies didn’t even have an information-sharing agreement or legal document prohibiting Elliott from speaking badly about the company or speaking to the press.
“So Elliot has built an ongoing relationship. That doesn’t mean it will go away or never come back,” said an official who requested anonymity because she wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on behalf of the company. “Like I said, if a month or a few months from now everything goes wrong, the company can always come back and say, ‘We’re still waiting.’ We’re still involved, and here’s what you can do to make it better: Elliott doesn’t want that to happen, but it’s a possibility.”
All of this gives Elliott a lot of leeway to keep the pressure on the company if the situation warrants it. And we’re keeping activists away ahead of our June shareholder meeting.
