TheStreet CEO to employees: We’re working with shareholders

Interim CEO Larry Kramer sent the following to all TheStreet.com employees on Thursday:

Dear Fellow Employee,

Attached is a filing we made with the SEC this morning in response to the letter and ongoing press campaign by Spear Point, an activist shareholder which has called for changes across the company, including to our business strategy and board composition. I would like to briefly bring you up to speed on the situation and provide an update on our business going forward.

The letter explains in detail our stance in regards to Spear Point, but you should also be aware that we made extraordinary efforts to work with them over the past year. I myself have met with Spear Point several times and even agreed to a proposal they made last week to let them jointly pick our next independent director with us. The agreement was unsuccessful because Spear Point immediately changed its mind and demanded the right to unilaterally nominate a director to our board.

We are working closely with our shareholders to engage with them and value their input, but we won’t respond to threats or agree to unreasonable demands. Meanwhile, we are happy and confident about the response our other investors have provided in regards to everything we are doing to move the company forward.

I want to thank the members of the leadership team who spent several hours with Jim and me last week explaining our business and long term strategy to Spear Point. I am pleased to report that Spear Point indicated they were in agreement with our strategy and business plans presented at the meeting and noted they were impressed by our strong leadership team. And most importantly, I want to thank all of you for your ongoing hard work and dedication to TheStreet.

As you all know, we are in the midst of a transformation process aimed at driving growth across the company, in both our media and subscription businesses. While 2016 is likely to remain another year of transition for us, we are confident in our strategy and the renewed momentum across our business. We also continue to evaluate candidates for the permanent CEO role and look forward to sharing more details with you in due course.

Please reach out to me directly if you have concerns about this matter.

Wishing you all a great Memorial Day weekend.

Larry