By Mark R. Long


Two former Pfizer top executives won't participate in an activist investor's effort to pressure the drugmaker to make changes to improve its performance.

Former Chief Executive Ian Read and ex-Chief Financial Officer Frank D'Amelio said they decided not to be involved in Starboard Value's campaign, and expressed support for current Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla in a joint statement issued by Guggenheim Securities late Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Starboard had taken a roughly $1 billion stake in the New York company, and wanted the struggling drugmaker to turn its performance around.

Starboard had approached the two executives to help its efforts, and the two expressed interest, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

Read was Pfizer's CEO from 2010 to 2018 and chose Bourla as his successor, while D'Amelio served as CFO from 2007 to 2021.

In the statement Wednesday, the two said they were fully supportive of Bourla, senior management and the board, "and we are confident that over time they will deliver shareholder value."


Write to Mark R. Long at mark.long@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-10-24 0735ET