The new lawsuit filed by a major shareholder, Darwin Deason, suggests that Jacobson went ahead and chased the deal, thereby going against the board, a report by the Wall Street Journal alleged. The company, however, flatly denied these allegations.
According to the lawsuit, Jacobson — who replaced Ursula Burns — rushed with the deal as he would gain a major control as a CEO once the merger took place. This was highly criticized by Deason as well as Carl Icahn — who are aggressively working towards introducing major changes at the company.
In January this year, Deason opposed the $6.1-billion deal between Fujifilm and Xerox stating the agreement undervalued Xerox. Yet, The US company went ahead signing the deal with its old joint-venture partner Fuji Xerox, with an aim to optimize expenses in a declining office printing equipment market.
Despite all these claims and allegations, Jacobson continues to be the CEO of the company, thanks to the deal. But it has clearly created a rift between the management and the board, which is expected to have grave repercussions in the coming days.