Rockstar Energy founder builds Celsius stake, wants to take over as CEO
Get the Finance newsletter
Daily finance — markets, central banks, M&A, the prints that move money. Free.
- Russ Savage now controls more than 12 million shares of Celsius, roughly 4.7% of the company and worth about $300 million at current levels, and is demanding the firing of the CEO, COO, brand manager, and marketing manager.
- Celsius Holdings shares plunged 18% on Thursday after Q2 results missed Wall Street expectations: EPS of 36 cents versus 43 cents expected, revenue of $817.9 million versus $870 million expected, and net income that fell by more than half year-over-year.
- CEO John Fieldly attributed the shortfall to a product rationalization program and a deliberate pause in innovation, alongside ongoing integration of the $1.8 billion Alani Nu acquisition and the Rockstar brand Celsius acquired from PepsiCo last year.
- Savage founded Rockstar Energy in 2001 and sold it to PepsiCo in 2020 for more than $4 billion; he said he began accumulating his current Celsius stake in March when shares fell to the low $30s, and the stock now trades around $27.
- Celsius said in a statement it 'welcomes ideas that are potentially value-creating from all Celsius Holdings shareholders' and noted that board members and management have engaged with Savage 'many times over the past several years.'
- Savage warned that Celsius giving up shelf space to newer brands is a 'dire signal': 'Once you lose shelf space, you're dead. The chains will give it to Red Bull or Monster.'
Why it matters: A ~$300 million, 4.7% stake makes Savage one of Celsius's most consequential individual holders, and his public call for the CEO's ouster — coming on the heels of an 18% post-earnings plunge — gives the board a direct credibility challenge from an operator who built and sold a competing energy drink brand to PepsiCo for $4 billion-plus and is now volunteering to run the company he just bought into.
