Ac­tivist in­vestor grabs a multi­bil­lion-pound stake in Glax­o­SmithK­line, trig­ger­ing buzz about a loom­ing show­down at the list­less gi­ant

Mur­murs of in­vestors’ grow­ing un­ease about Glax­o­SmithK­line’s strug­gling re­vival strat­e­gy spilled out in­to the pub­lic on Thurs­day as the Fi­nan­cial Times re­port­ed that ac­tivist hedge fund El­liott Man­age­ment has built up a multi­bil­lion-pound stake in the phar­ma gi­ant, por­tend­ing a high pro­file show­down over CEO Em­ma Walm­s­ley’s reign.

Shares had been down 14% since Walm­s­ley be­came CEO and brought in Hal Bar­ron to spur a makeover in the pipeline. Now, the FT re­ports, some of the un­hap­py in­vestors are mak­ing un­fa­vor­able com­par­isons be­tween Walm­s­ley and Pas­cal So­ri­ot, the CEO cred­it­ed with a ma­jor turn­around at that oth­er UK phar­ma gi­ant — As­traZeneca.

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