Icahn issues letter to Illumina, accuses of ‘attempt to disenfranchise’ holders

Carl Icahn has released another open letter to the shareholders of Illumina, stating in part: "On April 20, 2023, Illumina filed its definitive proxy statement with the SEC, in which the company cryptically disclosed for the first time that its Governance Committee expects that ‘it will propose the appointment of two new directors after the 2023 annual meeting’. This action demonstrates a blatant attempt to disenfranchise Illumina shareholders – in the midst of a proxy contest – by packing the board with two additional handpicked directors… We question why Illumina’s board decided not to add these two unnamed individuals to the company’s slate so that shareholders would have an opportunity to choose for themselves at the upcoming annual meeting whether they wished to have them added to the board… Adding insult to injury, Illumina’s proxy statement contains another buried nugget of repugnance for those few brave souls who actually make it to pages 58 and 60 of the filing. There you will find that CEO Francis deSouza’s compensation targets have been set by his coterie of crony directors to include only the results of ‘Core Illumina’ and exclude the impact of GRAIL’s operating performance. Said another way, CEO Francis deSouza gets to use the shareholder’s money – our money – for free but he is only willing to be compensated on the results of Core Illumina." Reference Link