Nominees Walter
Bachtiger and Michal Czwarno Bring Much-Needed Expertise in
Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge of LivePerson's Operations and
Deep Understanding of Evolving AI Market Dynamics
NEW
YORK, Aug. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
Robert P. LoCascio, Founder and former CEO of LivePerson, Inc.
("LivePerson" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: LPSN) and beneficial owner
of approximately 2.4% of the outstanding shares of Company common
stock, today announced that he has nominated two independent,
highly qualified nominees (the "Nominees") for election to the
LivePerson Board of Directors (the "Board") at the Company's 2024
Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Mr. LoCascio has filed a
preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange
Commission ("SEC").
The nominees, Walter Bachtiger,
Founder and CEO of TimeTrust, a Silicon Valley FinTech company and
former LivePerson Vice President, and Michal Czwarno, a strategic technology business
leader with substantial experience in global strategy formation and
execution, would bring much-needed AI industry and Business to
Business ("B2B") experience to the Board.
LivePerson was at one time a leading AI company, but since
August 2023, the value of its stock
has fallen by approximately 80%, including a 47% single-day drop
following the Company's February 2024
earnings call in which management announced an unprecedented
$100 million revenue loss due to
customer churn. Further, Mr. LoCascio believes the Company
undertook a debt restructuring plan in May
2024 that was dilutive to equity stockholders and increased
the Company's covenants restrictions and exposure to interest
rates. There are also notable recent departures of key employees,
especially from the Company's data science team. The goal should be
to reestablish LivePerson as a leading global provider in the
conversational AI contact center space and the AI space
overall.
Mr. LoCascio believes that a refreshed Board, with a deep
understanding of LivePerson's operations and the evolving market
dynamics surrounding AI and the contact center sector, would allow
the Company to regain a market-leading position and the confidence
of its stockholders. Mr. LoCascio also believes that with the right
strategic plan and Board composition, the Company can rapidly
unlock the potential of its unique data and platform assets. Mr.
LoCascio's Nominees bring the relevant expertise, experience and
knowledge to return the Company to its historical strategy of
innovation, and bring an important and currently lacking
stockholder mentality to the Board.
"I spent nearly three decades building LivePerson into an
industry-leading conversational AI platform that was uniquely
positioned to capitalize on the AI revolution, and the Company's
performance has not reflected that opportunity," said Mr. LoCascio.
"The current Board and management team would benefit greatly from a
clear and cohesive plan around its operational and customer
acquisition and retention strategy designed to reduce and prevent
significant customer churn and restore value to the Company's stock
price.
"I remain confident in LivePerson's business and am fully
committed to helping restore the Company's reputation. With the
right strategic plan, spearheaded by the right Board and management
team, LivePerson can regain its AI industry leadership and provide
tremendous value to its stockholders. Walter and Michal both bring
unique and direct understanding of the Company's offerings,
operations and rapidly evolving industry dynamics, along with
relevant experience in key areas of the AI market. I know they
would help quickly realign LivePerson's focus to further drive
innovation and reestablish it as the partner of choice for some of
the world's largest brands."
Biographies of the Nominees follow:
Walter Bachtiger
A
current LivePerson stockholder, Walter
Bachtiger is a seasoned SaaS and B2B executive currently
serving as Founder and CEO of TimeTrust, a Silicon Valley Fintech
company. From 2022 to 2024, Mr.Bachtiger served as Vice President
of Voice AI at LivePerson, where he researched and delivered chat
support systems to Fortune 500 companies powered by various
commercial and open source LLMs (Transformers/ChatGPT) AI systems.
Previously, from 2009 to 2021, he served as Founder and CEO of
VoiceBase, Inc. before it was acquired by LivePerson. Since
2022, Mr. Bachtiger has also served on the advisory board of New
Native AB, a fast growing Swedish AI investment and research
company.
Michal Czwarno
Michal
Czwarno is a strategic technology business leader, manager
and entrepreneur with a proven track record in scaling software
companies. Mr. Czwarno is the former Interim Head of GTM
Operations, Enablement and Enterprise Strategy at Asana, a work
management software company, where he served in 2023. Between 2014
and 2023, he served as President and Chief Revenue Officer at
PageUp, where he led marketing, sales and sales development,
professional services, customer success and renewals; and
Vice-President of Expansion at DocuSign, a major document
management software company, orchestrating key initiatives related
to DocuSign's vision, strategy, product marketing, operations and
enablement efforts globally.
Media Contacts:
ASC Advisors
Taylor Ingraham / Morgan Davis
tingraham@ascadvisors.com / mdavis@ascadvisors.com
203-992-1230
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking
Statements
This press release does not constitute an offer
to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities
described herein in any state to any person. The information
herein contains "forward-looking statements". Specific
forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they
do not relate strictly to historical or current facts and include,
without limitation, words such as "may," "will," "expects,"
"believes," "anticipates," "plans," "estimates," "projects,"
"potential," "targets," "forecasts," "seeks," "could," "should" or
the negative of such terms or other variations on such terms or
comparable terminology. Similarly, statements that describe
our objectives, plans or goals are forward-looking.
Forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and
uncertainties and assumptions. There can be no assurance that
any idea or assumption herein is, or will be proven, correct or
that any of the objectives, plans or goals stated herein will
ultimately be undertaken or achieved. If one or more of such
risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying
assumptions of Robert P. LoCascio
("Mr. LoCascio") and Ikon LP (collectively, the "LoCascio Parties")
prove to be incorrect, the actual results may vary materially from
outcomes indicated by these statements. Accordingly,
forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a
representation by Mr. LoCascio that the future plans, estimates or
expectations contemplated will ever be achieved. Mr. LoCascio
has neither sought nor obtained consent from any third party to use
previously published information in this press release, including
any quotes used in this press release.
Important Information
The LoCascio Parties,
Walter Bachtiger and Michal Czwarno (collectively, the
"Participants") intend to file a definitive proxy statement and
accompanying form of WHITE proxy card with the Securities and
Exchange Commission (the "SEC") to be used in connection with the
2024 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of LivePerson, Inc. (the
"Company"). Stockholders of the Company are advised to read
the definitive proxy statement and other documents related to the
solicitation of proxies with respect to the Company by the
Participants as they become available because they will contain
important information. They will be made available at no
charge on the SEC's website, https://www.sec.gov/.
Information about the Participants and a description of their
direct or indirect interests by security holdings or otherwise can
be found in the preliminary proxy statement filed with the SEC on
Schedule 14A by Mr. LoCascio on August 20,
2024.
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SOURCE Robert LoCascio