On July 21, 2021, Elliott Investment Management LP, announced that Duke Energy Corp. is being mismanaged and should have new leadership. Elliott has sent letter to the Company and stated that the Company's poor track record of delivering on commitments has driven substantial underperformance and continued skepticism about management's ability to create value for shareholders. Elliott said that the Company failed to adequately respond to a similar letter the investment firm issued in mid-May, when it called for breaking up the Company into three companies. The Company fired back with its own statement, accusing Elliott of pushing its short-term agenda at the expense of long-term shareholder value as well as the interests of the Company's employees and the communities it serves. Elliott contends the Company's utility operations in Florida are underperforming the Company's peers in that state, and its failed effort to build the Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline led to a $2 billion write down. It contends Duke's executives are overpaid, they don't work with shareholder interest in mind and they aren't adequately overseen by the Company's board. Elliott said the independence of the Company's board should be increased. Also, the Company should improve its Florida utility and invest more in its Indiana operations. The Company stated that Elliott's shrink-the-company break-up proposal collapsed immediately because it was financially unsound and ran counter to the strategic direction of the entire industry. Now, Elliott is taking aim at the Company?s leadership to find a way to force a shareholder-value-destroying plan that has no support.