Jana Partners accuses Zendesk of 'hostility' to dissenting viewpoints

Momentive Global

28/02/2022 18:15

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Jana Partners on
Monday accused Zendesk  ZEN.N  of "hostility" toward viewpoints
opposing the company, days after shareholders roundly rejected a
planned deal to buy Momentive Global  MNTV.O .
    Jana Partners, which is trying to win four seats on the
software firm's board, said Zendesk lead independent director
Carl Bass wrote an "expletive-laden e-mail" to research firm 13D
Monitor's founder Ken Squire over a note he wrote about Zendesk
in early December. 
    The e-mail, heavily redacted to eliminate some words, was
the focus of a segment broadcast on Friday by CNBC, where Squire
is a contributor.
    "... we have now also learned that Zendesk's board appears
to condone unprofessional acts of hostility against dissenting
viewpoints," Jana Partners said in a letter.
    Zendesk did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment.
    The hedge fund also reiterated that the board needs to be
overhauled or "in the absence of such change, (the company)
should be sold".  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nPn4ksBrza
    Earlier this month, Jana nominated four directors to the
board of Zendesk, arguing that the company must be rehabilitated
after an unpopular attempt to buy Momentive.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UR2EC
    Zendesk shareholders on Friday rejected a proposed takeover
of SurveyMonkey parent Momentive, shortly after Zendesk rejected
a bid for itself.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2V0369
    The Momentive deal, valued at roughly $4 billion, was
heavily criticized by prominent investors including state
pension funds and large mutual funds which questioned its
rationale and said it would likely be too risky.
    
    
    
    

 (Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru and Svea
Herbst-Bayliss in New York; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
 ((tiyashi.datta@thomsonreuters.com;))