Investor CD PROJEKT demanded to remove the management. All because of the fall in the value of the company by 57%
Top managers of CD PROJEKT demanded to vacate their positions. The British firm Abri Advisors, which owns an unspecified stake in the Polish publisher, sent a letter to its board of directors. In it, she delivered an ultimatum: either CEO Adam Kicinski and his deputy Marcin Ivinsky leave, or Abri Advisors will raise the issue of removing the entire board of directors.
The official reason for the appeal: the collapse in the value of CD PROJEKT shares by 57% over the past six months (the company’s market capitalization has fallen by $6.2 billion) due to unsuccessful decisions regarding the launch and development of Cyberpunk 2077, which is still experiencing technical problems and has not been returned to Sony on the digital shelves of the PlayStation Store.
“I don’t think it was consciously possible to make as many mistakes as these guys did,” Jeffrey Tierman, CEO of Abri Advisors, said in an interview with Bloomberg. In a letter to the board, the director expressed “extreme concern about the processes taking place in the company over the past 12 months.”
To change the board of directors of Abri Advisors, three fifths of all shareholders’ votes will be required. This may prove to be an impossible task, since the current directors – including Kiczynski and Ivinski – own at least 34% of the company. CD PROJEKT’s largest third-party financial investor, the Polish pension fund of NN Group, has only 4.2% at its disposal.
The Polish studio has already responded to the letter. She stated that she would prepare a response soon, and also noted that the claims raised in the letter for some reason were not voiced at the shareholders’ meeting, which was held on May 25 and was dedicated to the annual results of CD PROJEKT.
Tirman stated that he and the company did not participate in the meeting because there was a hope that the board of directors would “correct the course of the ship, and not just click on the “repeat” button.” The last straw for him was the publication of the company’s quarterly results and the support of the current management board.
“I would like the company to publish a plan of how it is going to solve the current problems and, as part of long—term planning, restore confidence in itself from both customers and shareholders,” Tirman stressed.
