The Bear Cave #231
New Activist Reports, Recent Resignations, and Tweets of the Week
Welcome to The Bear Cave! Our last premium articles were “Even More Problems at eXp World Holdings (EXPI)” and “Problems at Teleperformance (TEP)” and our next premium investigation comes out Thursday, August 1.
The Bear Cave recently gave an in-depth interview on The Peel with Turner Novak about our history, mission, research process, and least favorite companies. Turner is a fantastic interviewer and we hope you’ll give it a listen on Spotify or YouTube!
New Activist Reports
Grizzly Research published on Pinterest (NYSE: PINS — $27.9 billion), an image-based social media platform. Grizzly Research claimed the company is losing its U.S. users, concealing the decline with less profitable international user growth, and showing low-quality ads in desperation to boost finances. Grizzly Research concluded,
“We believe Pinterest is in a long-term death spiral: Western users leave, and then Pinterest sells more advertising space at cheaper prices to create revenue, which further reduces the overall content quality, and drives more users to abandon the service.”
Hunterbrook Media, a new media outlet that shares its stories in advance with an affiliated hedge fund, published on Nano Nuclear Energy (NASDAQ: NNE — $577 million), an early-stage nuclear microreactor company. Hunterbrook wrote that the company’s timeline of bringing a reactor to market in 2030 is “frankly laughable” and found that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission was “not aware of this company” and “have not had any pre-application dealings with them.” Hunterbrook also highlighted that the company’s management team has worked at several other public companies that later declined significantly.
Recent Resignations
Notable executive departures disclosed in the past week include:
CFO of Getaround Inc (OTC: GETR — $10.5 million) “is no longer employed by the company” after one and a half years. The online car-sharing platform is down ~99% since its December 2022 SPAC merger.
CFO of Otis Worldwide (NYSE: OTIS — $39.5 billion) “will be resigning his position with the company to pursue external opportunities” after two years.
CFO of BeiGene (NASDAQ: BGNE — $17.1 billion) “entered into a separation and transition agreement” after three years. The Chinese biopharmaceutical company is up ~350% since its 2016 IPO.
CEO of Five Below (NASDAQ: FIVE — $4.26 billion) “stepped down” after nine and a half years and is also leaving the board “to pursue other interests.” The company is down ~65% this year.
CEO of Cassava Sciences (NASDAQ: SAVA — $488 million) resigned after 17 years “other than for cause” and “will remain employed by the company in a non-executive capacity, without duties or responsibilities” until September. The CEO’s wife, the company’s Senior Vice President of Neuroscience, will also step down “effective immediately.” Last month, a paid consultant and researcher for Cassava was indicted for “engaging in a scheme to fabricate and falsify scientific data in grant applications made to the NIH.” In November 2021, Quintessential Capital alleged the company forged its scientific research and employed “an astounding number of questionable characters.”
Chief Human Resources Officer of NCR Atleos (NYSE: NATL — $2.45 billion) departed “effective immediately” after just nine months.
Safra A. Catz, CEO of Oracle, resigned from the board of Disney (NYSE: DIS — $175 billion) effective immediately after six and a half years. In November 2023, Francis A. Desouza, the former CEO of Illumina, also disclosed he would not stand for re-election on Disney’s board.
Arnon Dinur, board member of Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ — $2.68 billion), resigned effective immediately after nearly 11 years. In April, The Bear Cave published on problems at Marqeta (MQ) and noted the company and its close partner Block (SQ) have seen a large exodus of executives and board members amid recent whistleblower allegations.
Data for this section is provided by VerityData from VerityPlatform.com
What to Read
“The Man in Silicon Valley Who’s Completely Obsessed With Failure” (WSJ)
“There are Bear Stearns mugs, several models of BlackBerry and pieces of Bernie Madoff’s stationery. There’s a WeWork thermos, unopened Champagne from Webvan’s initial public offering during the dot-com bubble and, of course, cans of New Coke. There is somehow cologne from both Harley-Davidson and Burger King. There are not one but two Pets.com sock puppets. And there is a Mattel doll, but it’s not Barbie or Ken—it’s Allan.”
“Distressed crypto investor ordered to repay $1.9mn taken from failed company” (FT)
“A high-profile crypto investor has been ordered by a Delaware court to pay back nearly $2mn he was found to have looted from a failed company he was appointed to oversee… Braziel spent nearly $1mn of company funds on such items as a sapphire ring, diamond earrings, a watch and ‘luxury hotel stays, apparel, art, and other fineries,’ according to the ruling from the Delaware Court of Chancery.”
“Deere Slashes Diversity Initiatives After Backlash From Conservative Activist” (WSJ)
“Deere, the world’s largest seller of farm equipment, said it would ensure the absence of what it described as ‘socially motivated messages’ from company-mandated training materials and policies unless otherwise required. It said that diversity quotas have never been company policy and that it wouldn’t participate in or support ‘social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events.’
…Deere’s corporate history is intertwined with support for social justice and progressive causes, starting with founder John Deere, who was an outspoken abolitionist during the 19th century. Deere’s great-great-granddaughter, Patricia Deere Wiman, and her husband, William Hewitt, who headed the company for more than 25 years starting in the 1950s, supported civil rights, integration, and social and environmental causes.”
Tweets of the Week
Until next week,
The Bear Cave