Just Deserts at Luby’s
from Summer 2001
by Jessica Fourneret
David Daviss, chairman and CEO of Luby’s, a San Antonio-based chain of cafeterias, surely heaved a sigh of relief when five dissident shareholders lost their bid to win seats on the board earlier this year (“Get Outta Here!” Corporate Board Member, Spring 2001). But he heaved too soon. Christopher and Harris Pappas, brothers who run a privately owned eponymous chain of restaurants headquartered in Houston, have bought control of money-losing Luby’s—and Daviss is toast.
The other 10 directors remain in place, for now. As for the five shareholders who sought places on the board, “It’s still a matter of waiting and observing,” says Les Greenberg, the Culver City, California lawyer who used the Internet to put the dissident group together.
Other dissident-slate-battle results:
- Travis Street Partners, shareholders in ICO, a Houston plastics and oilfield services company, won their fight to replace three directors on the seven-person board—the first successful proxy battle fought in cyberspace.
- Carl Icahn dropped his proxy fight to replace directors of VISX, a laser eye equipment manufacturer.
- Weyerhaeuser, still in pursuit of rival wood products company Willamette, still threatens to nominate three directors who’ll support its bid.
- The battle for Dime Bancorp may be over. Would-be acquirer North Fork Bancorp., which was trying to get five friendly directors onto the Dime board, has dropped its slate.
