Spectrum Pharmaceutecals Inc (SPPI)

[antihama]

Blackrock is our largest Institutional shareholder with ~11.5% ownership of Spectrum (total institutional ownership is around 72%) so it is with interest I read this article about what Blackrock's CEO had to say and can't help but think they had some involvement in Dr. Raj losing his position as CEO. He wrote a letter to the the chief executives of the world’s largest public companies that

"that their companies need to do more than make profits — they need to contribute to society as well if they want to receive the support of BlackRock"

but the next part of the quote is the part that reminds me they could have played a role in the 74 yr old Dr. Raj exiting his post

Mr. Fink has the clout to make this kind of demand: His firm manages more than $6 trillion in investments through 401(k) plans, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds, making it the largest investor in the world, and he has an outsize influence on whether directors are voted on and off boards.

I doubt we'll truly ever know what happened behind closed doors but I wouldn't be surprised if institutions that own 72% of the company felt that after 15 yrs at the helm it was time for the 74 yr old be replaced with younger blood before the younger blood started leaving. I can see that being critically important since that younger blood were the ones that helped make Neulasta such a success at Amgen and it was critical to keep that expertise for the rollout of Rolontis. We already lost Ken Keller, so there would be a hole if Joe Turheon left also. As a reminder, here's what the PR said when JT joined Spectrum back in 2012

• Mr. Turgeon comes to Spectrum from Amgen where he spent more than 22 years including as VP Sales, Oncology; Joe brings over 25 years of relevant biotech and pharmaceutical experience
• Visionary leader who has built and led sales organizations at Amgen across multiple areas, including oncology, inflammation and bone health
• Proven expert in oncology marketplace; under Mr. Turgeon’s leadership, Amgen Oncology launched four new drugs and revenues rose from $2 billion to over $6 billion

Here's the full Blackrock article link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/15/business/dealbook/blackrock-laurence-fink-letter.html