ANALYSIS: Why Activists’ Boardroom Blues Might Brighten in Q4

Activist campaigns with objectives that target board and management changes—a significant tool that investor activists wield to accomplish change at a company—didn’t succeed in the 2022 proxy season at the same rate as in 2020 and previous years. But that may not be the end of the story for the performance of activist efforts in 2022.

As pending objectives launched in 2022 get resolved, the ultimate success of activist efforts to make board and management changes may make up for activists’ bleak proxy season.

So far this year, there have been 72 successful board and management objectives—roughly 50 fewer than ...