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Harley-Davidson's CEO Was Actually Fired: Shareholder
Jalopnik uses an odd method for naming pictures. I can't link to them.
Harley-Davidson's CEO Was Actually Fired: Shareholder
Erik Shilling
Yesterday 8:00PM • Filed to: HARLEY-DAVIDSON
Former Harley CEO Matt Levatich with President Donald Trump in 2017.
Photo: AP
When Harley-Davidson’s CEO left that job on February 28, the company said that he had “stepped down,” presumably to spend more time with his family or something. But an investment firm trying to install new board members at Harley said that Matt Levatich didn’t step down at all. No, they claim he was fired.
Well, “terminated” is the word the firm’s CEO uses in a press release today, and he also takes some credit for it. The firm, called Impala Asset Management, is trying to replace two Harley board members with picks of its own, while the company itself said earlier this week that it was happy with its current board and urged investors to keep them.
Here’s the spicy part of Impala’s release, attributed to Impala founder Robert Bishop, emphasis mine:
{snip}
Erik Shilling
Yesterday 8:00PM • Filed to: HARLEY-DAVIDSON
Former Harley CEO Matt Levatich with President Donald Trump in 2017.
Photo: AP
When Harley-Davidson’s CEO left that job on February 28, the company said that he had “stepped down,” presumably to spend more time with his family or something. But an investment firm trying to install new board members at Harley said that Matt Levatich didn’t step down at all. No, they claim he was fired.
Well, “terminated” is the word the firm’s CEO uses in a press release today, and he also takes some credit for it. The firm, called Impala Asset Management, is trying to replace two Harley board members with picks of its own, while the company itself said earlier this week that it was happy with its current board and urged investors to keep them.
Here’s the spicy part of Impala’s release, attributed to Impala founder Robert Bishop, emphasis mine:
We have had significant concerns about the strategic direction and actions taken by the Board under former Chairman Michael Cave’s stewardship for some time – and we have voiced these concerns privately to Harley. Notably, it took our urging to convince the Board to terminate the prior CEO, Matthew Levatich, despite years of poor performance. In 2019, Mr. Levatich’s reported compensation increased to a new annual record of more than $11 million, even as adjusted motorcycle operating income declined by more than 20% and the stock underperformed Harley’s peers.
The Board has still not shown that it is focused on positive change. To the contrary, one of the first decisions the incumbent directors made after firing Mr. Levatich was to reward their longstanding colleague, Jochen Zeitz, the new Acting President and CEO, with a pay package that could provide up to $8.5 million in salary, bonuses and restricted units for a short assignment. This is yet another instance of this Board being tone deaf to the plight of shareholders and further demonstrates the need for new perspectives on the Board.
{snip}