Cannell Capital Fights For Board Changes at TheStreet, Inc. (TST)

Cannell Capital, a firm founded by Carlo Cannell in 1992, has disclosed a letter sent to the shareholders of TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:TST) urging them to vote for a reshuffling of the board of directors at the company’s next annual meeting of shareholders. Cannell has been a shareholder in TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:TST) since 2011 and currently holds over 3.08 million shares of the company, or about 8.9% of the total outstanding stock via its own separately managed accounts and via the Tristan Partners, L.P. and the Tristan Offshore Fund Ltd. to which Cannell acts as an investment adviser. Cannell believes TheStreet is undervalued and has nominated eight independent directors to increase the value of the company.

According to the letter, Cannell held productive discussions in the past few months until late April when TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:TST) rejected seven out of eight Cannell’s candidates with the last candidate being “pre-approved” then rejected a few weeks later.  The company also went ahead and nominated James Cramer and Mark Walsh to the Board.

“On April 16, 2015, TST CFO John Ferrara forecast that TST would likely spend in excess of $500,000 of shareholder money for sundry professionals to try to block the enhancement and independence of the board which Cannell Capital has called for,” the investor said in his letter.

“It is the experience and belief of Cannell Capital that good management and directors don’t spend lavishly to protect their own positions, jobs and perks. A good board is objective. A good board puts all shareholders before the interest of members of the board or management,” the letter added.

TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:TST) is a $68 million digital media company that is engaged in the financial and mergers & acquisitions environment. Its stock has been mostly declining for the last year, losing more than 24%. Cannell is one of the largest shareholders of the company, followed by Jeffrey Moskowitz’s Harvey Partners and billionaire Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies, which own 2.36 million shares and 1.38 million shares respectively.

Disclosure: None