Starboard acquires ~$1bn of Pfizer shares, PFE up ~3% before market open

Starboard Value, an activist investor, has acquired about $1bn worth of Pfizer shares, according to media reports, sending the stock up nearly 3 per cent before the market opened on Monday. The activist has reportedly reached out to Ian Read, the former chief executive, and Frank D’Amelio, the former chief financial officer, to help with its plans to improve the company’s performance.

The hedge fund believes that Albert Bourla, the current chief executive who took over from Mr Read in 2019, lacks the merger discipline of his predecessor. Since Mr Bourla took over, Pfizer has spent billions of dollars on companies that make cancer drugs, including last year’s $43bn acquisition of Seagen, a biotechnology company.

Pfizer’s shares have fallen almost half since the peak of the pandemic in 2021, as demand for Covid-19 vaccines has plummeted. The stock has changed little in 2024, while the S&P 500 has risen 21 per cent.

The stock rose about 3 per cent after the reports, after the company recalled a drug for sickle cell disease globally in recent weeks, amid concerns that it could cause patients severe pain or death.