Carl C. Icahn Issues Open Letter to Shareholders of Illumina, Inc.

$ILMN

Dear Fellow Illumina Shareholders:

The more that occurs, the more we realize that something is truly rotten in the state of Illumina. Last week, Illumina filed its preliminary proxy statement, which highlighted that our esteemed directors (in their infinite wisdom) decided to pay CEO Francis deSouza an astonishing $27 million in 2022, up 87% from 2021. While it is true that 7 of the 9 current board members of Illumina were handpicked by Mr. deSouza, it is still hard to believe how they can justify this action in that, during the last year and a half under deSouza’s management, the company managed to lose an amazing $50 billion of shareholder value.

Illumina’s board amazingly justified Mr. deSouza’s massive pay increase by saying it was necessary due to the “highly competitive talent environment.” For once we are in complete agreement with this board. It is probably impossible to find a CEO candidate “talented” enough to lose $50 billion of shareholder value in this short a period.

After speaking with numerous shareholders, we believe it is unconscionable that the board of directors still entrusts Mr. deSouza with running our potentially great company. During his tenure, not only has the company lost $50 billion of shareholder value but many of his talented executives have left or are in the process of leaving. Why is this board keeping him and, perhaps more importantly, why are we – the shareholders – keeping this board?

Sincerely yours,

Carl C. Icahn

Source:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/921669/000153949723000571/n2779_x117-dfan14a.htm