Letter

Starboard Value's letter to Autodesk shareholders on margins and board change

Jeffrey Smith · 2025

A clear worked example of activist margin arithmetic: headcount savings and incremental margins built up into a target you can check line by line against guidance.

• Activism and governance
• Valuation

1 idea from this letter

• TechniqueActivism and governance

  Activist margin arithmetic: headcount, cost per head and incremental margin, line by line

  Build a margin case from countable inputs, headcount, cost per head and incremental margin on growth, so that every disagreement is about a number.

  Activist situations, any margin expansion thesis, and the interview question of how you would improve a company's profitability.