The E-Mail Miscue That Undercut a $1 Billion Corporate Activism Campaign

It’s become well understood that the high-stakes political world more closely mirrors the satire “Veep” than the prestige-draped “The West Wing.” Behind the pomp, circumstance and power are humans who, like all of us, are prone to bumbling mistakes.   

The same thing can be said, it seems, about highly choreographed, stealthy corporate activist investors. Case in point today: Starboard, one of the largest such firms, had its $1 billion activist campaign against Pfizer undercut by what the Financial Times called a “fat-fingered gaffe.”