(Reuters) – Restaurant chain Shake Shack Inc said on Tuesday it has added an independent director to its board in agreement with activist investor Engaged Capital LLC.
On May 14, the Wall Street Journal had reported that Engaged Capital was planning to launch a proxy fight for three board seats at the chain.
Shake Shack has also mutually agreed with Engaged Capital to add another director with restaurant operations experience, after appointing Jeffrey Lawrence, former finance chief at Domino’s Pizza Inc, as an independent director.
According to the WSJ report, the U.S.-based shareholder activist had determined ways to double the company’s profitability within two years and believes the restaurant chain should get rid of its staggered board, meaning not all directors are up for election at the same time.
However, on Tuesday, the burger chain said the activist investor would support the board’s full slate of directors at the 2023 annual meeting of stockholders.
Engaged Capital did not immediately respond to Reuters request for additional comments.
(Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
