{ "docId": "019dd923-622c-750b-8b9d-2310ae33859a", "docSlug": "088de79b26ea", "documentTitle": "LivePerson, Inc. (LPSN)", "authorId": "03_Starboard_Value", "authorName": "Peter Feld", "documentKindSlug": "shareholder-letter", "documentKindLabel": "Shareholder letter", "sourceTypeSlug": "activist_investor", "sourceTypeLabel": "Activist investor", "presentationDate": "2022-05-09 00:00:00", "orientation": "portrait", "aspectRatio": 0.77272725, "pageNumber": 3, "pageCount": 6, "prevPage": 2, "nextPage": 4, "slideType": "expose_contradiction", "function": "expose_contradiction", "density": "overcrowded", "nDataPoints": 3, "notes": "The slide uses a grid of headshots to visualize the high churn rate of CFOs, Heads of Technology, and Heads of Sales.", "elementsJson": [ "paragraph", "headshot", "data_table", "callout_box", "footnote" ], "metadataConfidence": 1, "imagePath": null, "slideHref": "/slides/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9d-2310ae33859a/3", "deckHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9d-2310ae33859a", "deckJsonHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9d-2310ae33859a.json", "deckAnchorHref": "/decks/019dd923-622c-750b-8b9d-2310ae33859a#slide-3", "components": [ { "bbox": { "h": 0.05, "w": 0.18, "x": 0.615, "y": 0.555 }, "kind": "callout", "text": "Switched head of sales four times over within the past five years", "attrs": null, "subkind": "primary", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "9fc84411-1c76-437f-a59c-ecbc9e63bf5b", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.05, "w": 0.18, "x": 0.235, "y": 0.555 }, "kind": "callout", "text": "Three CFOs within the past five years", "attrs": null, "subkind": "primary", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "acde2b4a-b89c-4bf2-9a3f-d7c4de93eb75", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.05, "w": 0.18, "x": 0.425, "y": 0.555 }, "kind": "callout", "text": "Three heads of technology within the past five years", "attrs": null, "subkind": "primary", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "d78db3ee-ffbd-45df-bd26-505bb4ccb3b1", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": null, "kind": "callout", "text": "Three CFOs within the past five years; Three heads of technology within the past five years; Switched head of sales four times over within the past five years.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": "Visual emphasis", "toolSlug": "visual-emphasis", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd952-e6ec-7186-b7bf-b04d02ccf72d", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.265, "w": 0.766, "x": 0.117, "y": 0.315 }, "kind": "image", "text": "Grid of executive headshots", "attrs": null, "subkind": "headshot", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "55b765cc-ef9c-4b59-a418-4ee6969594f3", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": null, "kind": "metric", "text": "executive turnover: 4", "attrs": null, "subkind": "primary", "toolName": "Quantification", "toolSlug": "quantification", "confidence": null, "componentId": "019dd952-e6ec-7186-b7bf-b606c6f491ae", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.115, "w": 0.766, "x": 0.117, "y": 0.665 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "In addition, the Company’s corporate culture appears to be one that does not embrace, encourage, or champion fresh perspectives, diverse views, and experiences. We believe this problem stems from the top as the Board has an average tenure of 13 years and currently has only one female member and one member of another underrepresented community – a level of diverse representation that is significantly below generally acceptable levels and well below that of the Company’s Proxy Peer group.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "57ad661f-2dcc-44e3-b0c9-c22afb9e773f", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.055, "w": 0.766, "x": 0.117, "y": 0.203 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "We believe these issues have contributed to the excessive executive turnover at LivePerson. As we noted in our preliminary proxy statement, the Company has alternated four times between three heads of sales and has had three Chief Financial Officers and three heads of technology in just the last five years.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "a21a38d0-bbaa-43d6-ace8-1a23eaceac1f", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.085, "w": 0.766, "x": 0.117, "y": 0.093 }, "kind": "paragraph", "text": "Interestingly, since our involvement in LivePerson became public, we have received unsolicited inbound calls and emails from current employees of the Company. Their concerns closely echo many of the issues highlighted in the quotes above and center around poor corporate culture, a lack of focus on the core business, and challenges with leadership and board oversight.", "attrs": null, "subkind": "paragraph", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "bd856668-e39c-454a-b700-4cfc799d109b", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.025, "w": 0.766, "x": 0.117, "y": 0.605 }, "kind": "source-note", "text": "Source: Public company filings, transcripts, presentations, and LinkedIn. (1) Joined LivePerson in 2019, but named Chief Financial Officer in 2020. (2) Based specifically Mr. Carrelli’s LinkedIn profile as of 4/19/2022.", "attrs": null, "subkind": null, "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "2de63b16-e31b-4885-b198-52fd0cc8a3c0", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null }, { "bbox": { "h": 0.025, "w": 0.766, "x": 0.117, "y": 0.267 }, "kind": "title", "text": "Executive Officer Turnover", "attrs": null, "subkind": "headline", "toolName": null, "toolSlug": null, "confidence": null, "componentId": "80eeec7e-2df1-404d-bb0f-a7d29ce90929", "frameworkName": null, "frameworkSlug": null } ], "metrics": [], "tools": [], "frameworks": [], "arcBeats": [ { "to": 4, "from": 3, "beatId": "9e2904b9-8462-4944-9782-003b32f2cdb3", "arcName": "Overcoming the Monster", "arcSlug": "overcoming-monster", "beatName": "The Struggle", "beatSlug": "overcoming-monster-the-struggle", "evidence": "The presentation of executive officer turnover and lack of female representation on the board", "position": 1, "confidence": 0.8, "parentBeatName": "Development", "parentBeatSlug": "development" } ], "loops": [ { "to": 5, "from": 2, "name": "The Reveal", "slug": "05-the-reveal", "bestFor": "Product launches, strategic pivots, unexpected findings", "matchId": "ce56f6a9-2c8b-4672-b97e-592835c18030", "evidence": "The presentation of several issues with the current management", "position": 0, "objective": "Reveal the issues with the current management", "structure": "Setup the Question -> Build Suspense -> The Big Reveal", "confidence": 0.7, "description": "Build mystery and anticipation, then deliver a surprising or powerful conclusion" } ], "imagePathAlt": null, "thumbSrc": null, "thumbSrcAlt": null, "locked": true }