Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb said Friday that he is planning to seek to replace the entire board at Campbell Soup Co.'s coming annual shareholder meeting, confirming a Wall Street Journal report. Loeb's Third Point LLC is planning to launch a proxy fight, disappointed by the company's plan to sell two business units as part of a turnaround strategy. In a letter to the board, Loeb said he would normally seek just a few board seats to influence governance, but "this Board's persistent failure to discharge its fiduciary duties leaves us no choice but to seek to replace the entire Board with our Shareholder Slate." The current board is unable or unwilling to take the bold action needed to restore the company to a growth path, he said. "Since 2016 alone, this Board has overseen over $7 billion of value destruction," he wrote. "Years of poorly conceived and executed acquisitions have over-levered the balance sheet, providing a limited range of options to remedy the problems Campbell confronts today." Campbell shares were not yet active premarket, but have fallen 16.8% in 2018, while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.22% has gained 7.7%.
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