Despite strong sequential growth over the past year, Chicago-based kefir king Lifeway can’t seem to escape from a spiraling leadership drama centered around CEO and board chairwoman Julie Smolyansky. The latest chapter sees dairy giant Danone North America claiming Smolyansky violated a 1999 Shareholder Agreement when she awarded herself nearly 300,000 shares last month. 📈 The dispute is tied to Danone’s attempts to acquire the brand in-full last fall; Lifeway rejected Danone’s September 2024 acquisition offer, priced at $25 per share, and then rejected an improved offer in November priced at $27 per share, or around $306 million. - Citing an independent analysis, Lifeway said those proposals "severely undervalued” the company, though the board remained open to the possibility of a sale.
❌ That analysis provided the basis for the Lifeway board to grant the CEO 283,337 new shares of company stock in December without Danone’s required approval, per the Shareholder Agreement. The kefir company is countering that the agreement is superseded by Illinois law, and thus cannot be (and should have never been) enforced. 💸 Danone’s letter showed signs of long-simmering rancor with Lifeway’s leadership, pointedly noting “this is not the first occurrence of the board allowing Ms. Smolyansky’s personal interests to trump those of the company and its other shareholders.” Read the full story on BevNET. | 
