Icahn and Deason continue attack on Xerox CEO; offer alternative strategy for company’s future
Investor Carl Icahn and business executive Darwin Deason have redoubled their efforts to nix Xerox Corp.”™s $6.1 billion sale to Fujifilm Holdings Corp., attacking the decision-making of CEO Jeffrey Jacobson in a new letter sent to shareholders.
Icahn and Deason’s letter to shareholders of the Norwalk-Headquartered corporation, dubbed a “Presentation on Rescuing & Revitalizing the Company,” Â berates Jacobson for his handling of negotiations with Fujifilm and says the company never investigated strategies beyond the Fujifilm deal.
“Both the substance of the proposed value-destroying transaction and the conflict-tainted process by which it was hatched are an insult to long-suffering Xerox shareholders and make a mockery of well-established corporate governance norms,” wrote Icahn and Deason, who together control 15 percent of the company”™s shares.
Icahn and Deason also presented a four-step strategy to explore new business partnerships, more aggressively drive cost-savings efforts, monetize the intellectual property output from Xerox”™s Palo Alto Research Center, and pursue new Asia-Pacific market alliances beyond Fujifilm.
Xerox responded to the latest volley from Icahn and Deason with a statement that dismissed the presentation as a rehash of “prior misleading statements,” adding that it “failed to provide a credible or actionable alternative to create value for shareholders.”