Activist investors at Starboard Value are once again looking to shake things up at a major company. After essentially forcing the now-contested Staples-Office Depot merger, questioning the number of breadsticks handed out at Olive Garden and ousting the entire Darden Restaurant Inc. board, the investor group has launched a fight to remove the entire board of Yahoo. [More]
Starboard Value
Regulators Reportedly Poised To Block Staples, Office Depot Mega-Merger
By 12.1.15
Providing office supplies for commercial businesses could be the final nail in the coffin of the would-be formation of the $6.3 billion StaplesMaxDepot Voltron, with regulators reportedly poised to block the mega-merger next week. [More]
Office Depot, Staples Merger Under Scrutiny In Europe
By 9.25.15
The $6.3 billion merger between the top two office supply chains has hit yet another bump: the European Union opened an “extensive” investigation into the would-be union of Staples and rival Office Depot. [More]
Antitrust Concerns For Staples, Office Depot Merger Now Center On Corporate Supply Contracts
By 9.10.15
In an effort to gain approval for their $6.3 billion proposed marriage to Staples, Office Depot announced last month it would close about 400 stores. While that move could certainly help the merger process, it appears that federal regulators are less worried about retail sales at physical stores, and more concerned about their contracts to provide supplies to large corporations and businesses. [More]
Another Wasteful Expense At Olive Garden: Excessive Carpet Shampooing
By 6.23.15
The table-waiting, breadstick-hoarding board of directors over at Darden, parent company of Olive Garden, has some more extremely practical advice for its restaurants on the ground: they need to shampoo their carpets less. This is an example of an actual cost-saving measure proposed by the company’s CEO. [More]
Office Depot, Staples One Step Closer To Walking Down The Office Supply-Wedding Aisle
By 6.19.15
Back in February Staples presented Office Depot with a freshly sharpened bouquet of pencils (really, $6.3 billion) as a token of its desire to live as one for the rest of their office supply days. Now, three months later, Office Depot has accepted the proposal. [More]
Olive Garden’s Board Of Directors Waited Tables To Experience Life As An Employee
By 6.1.15
Not even a year ago, the activist hedge-fund investors at Starboard Value were making headlines with their 300-page report criticizing Olive Garden management for being wasteful with the free breadsticks, overly generous with the salad dressing, and not selling enough booze. Since then, Starboard has ousted board members at Olive Garden parent company Darden Restaurants and replaced them with their own nominees who have ushered in menu changes like turning those breadsticks into sandwiches. In an attempt to ground the new board members’ decisions in the real world, they all got to spend an evening on the foodservice front line. [More]
Would You Eat A Chicken Parmesan Breadstick Sandwich From Olive Garden?
By 5.11.15
Olive Garden has never been shy when it comes to experimenting with new menu items. Remember when the company introduced burgers and tapas? Apparently the scientists in the OG kitchen haven’t hung up their goggles just yet, with the restaurant now set to test breadstick sandwiches.
Staples Finally Proposes To Office Depot With $6.3 Billion Merger Deal
By 2.4.15
A day after it was reported that Staples and Office Depot had entered into advanced talks about a merger, it appears one of the companies popped the big question. Staples will buy Office Depot for $6.3 billion in cash and stock in a deal to bring the No. 1 and No. 2 office supply chains together to do battle with big box stores and online retailers. [More]
Staples, Office Depot Take Another Step Toward Merger, Enter “Advanced Talks”
By 2.3.15
Just weeks after activist investor Starboard Value publicly demanded Staples and Office Depot get hitched, the two office supply stores are apparently taking talks of a walk down the aisle seriously. [More]
Investor Demands Staples, Office Depot Begin Courting, Hoping To Hear Wedding Bells Soon
By 1.20.15
There’s a fine line between offering helpful suggestions and aggressively pushing for someone to do what you want. When it comes to activist investors Starboard Value, they tend to fall squarely in the latter camp – who can forget their harsh words for Olive Garden and ruthless take over of its board of directors? The firm appears to be back at it by not-so-nicely suggesting that Staples get a move on with regard to a possible merger with Office Depot. [More]
Office Supply Marriage? Investor Reportedly Pushing For Staples, Office Depot Merger
By 12.11.14
Just a few months after roundly mocking Olive Garden and then seizing seats on its board of directors, the activist investors at Starboard Value are reportedly hoping to arrange the marriage of office supply retailers Staples and Office Depot. [More]
Olive Garden Overhaul: Darden Loses Board Seats To Breadstick Police Investors
By 10.10.14
There might be fewer breadsticks in the basket next time you visit Olive Garden. Okay, fine we don’t really know if that’s true, but we do know that Darden Restaurant Inc., the parent company of the Italian restaurant, lost all of its board seats to investors turned breadstick police Starboard Value LP today. [More]
“Italian Generosity” Means Olive Garden Will Give You As Many Breadsticks As It Wants – Thank You Very Much
By 9.15.14
The first thing to come to mind when I think of Olive Garden isn’t pasta, it’s breadsticks. Baskets of free, buttery bread – I mean they are practically the cornerstone of the restaurant. So when an investor to the company proposed the idea that maybe the O.G. shouldn’t so willingly, or liberally hand out the carb-filled sticks, we were a little shocked. But fear not, the restaurant wants customers to know that they can still have as many free sticks as they want, because, you know, “Italian generosity” is a thing. [More]
