Deckers Brands defeated activist shareholder Marcato Capital Management’s attempt to replace its entire board of directors.
The Goleta, California-based company, which owns Ugg, Sanuk, Teva and Hoka One One, announced Thursday that stockholders have voted to re-elect all of Deckers’ directors.
The vote comes after a 10-month war-of-words with Marcato, which owns an 8.5% stake in the company.
Since February, Marcato has argued that the company needed to bring in a new board to implement a turnaround plan that included selling off Deckers’ Sanuk, Teva and Hoka One One brands. Among Marcato’s recommended nominees were L.L. Bean SVP and chief marketing officer Steve Fuller, David’s Bridal president and CEO Robert Huth, and former Michael Kors executive Anne Waterman.
Deckers argued that its $400 million stock repurchase plan launched in October would put the company in a positive position and should be the reason why stockholders vote for all nine of Deckers’ board of director nominees.
In a statement, Deckers said, “We are very pleased with the outcome of today’s vote. On behalf of the entire Deckers Board and management team, we sincerely thank our stockholders for their valuable insight and support throughout this process. 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.”