Activist investor Starboard Value has a $500 million stake in Autodesk and seeks clarity on an internal investigation which hit the company’s stock hard.
Activist investor Starboard Value sent a letter to Autodesk's board demanding more clarity and accountability around an internal probe that led to the reassignment of the software company's CFO.
The activist wrote that either Autodesk executives withheld the truth from the board and should be dismissed, or that Autodesk's board was aware of the financial misreporting and should resign.The activist investor wrote in its letter, a copy of which was seen by CNBC, that there had been"no consequences and no accountability for those involved in this purposeful misleading of shareholders.
Autodesk's internal probe found that executives had reversed course on a well-publicized shift in how the company would charge its customers after those executives realized Autodesk would not meet its 2023 free cash flow target. The internal probe led to the reassignment of its chief financial officer and prompted inquiries from financial regulators and the Justice Department.
The activist, which has a more than $500 million stake in Autodesk, sent the letter after a Delaware judge prevented its effort to"We find it almost impossible to believe there were not more members of management, and potentially the Board, who were aware of these issues," Smith wrote in the letter, going on to note that either Autodesk executives must have deliberately withheld the billing reversal from the board, or Autodesk's board had been made aware of the shifted plans.
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