Deckers defeats activist investor Marcato, keeps business intact

By

Cassidy Mantor

Published
Dec 15, 2017

Deckers shareholders voted to keep the company's Board in tact, defeating activist investor Marcato whose Board nominees wanted to make changes to the company that included selling off its Hoka, Teva and Sanuk brands.

Marcato Capital Management is a SF-based private equity firm that holds 8.4% of Deckers stock. Marcato cited underperforming business as the reason it sought to replace the nine Board members up for reelection with its own nominees. Key actions Marcato's nominees were in favor of were selling the three Deckers' brands it saw were losing business.

Deckers campaigned actively to inform its shareholders about how it was attempting to turn the business around and asked for their vote of continued confidence. The brand has set a goal of improving operating profits by $100 million by 2020 and its actions have been showing results.

To better meet its financial goals, the company centralized operations at its Goleta, CA headquarters and has completed strategic layoffs to reduce expenses. It also announced plans to expand the Ugg business with more seasonal collections and deepen penetration of Hoka through global expansion.

In an official statement, Deckers thanked shareholders and announced it was pleased with the outcome of the vote. Deckers said, "Today’s outcome reaffirms that we are on the right track. We remain focused on continuing our strategic transformation as we optimize our retail strategy, improve operating profits, refresh our Board and return capital to stockholders."

Deckers has been in business for 40 years and its brands are sold in 50 countries. Its portfolio includes Ugg, Koolaburra, Hoka One One, Teva and Sanuk. 

Deckers will file the official results of the proxy vote with the SEC.