Roku saw its up-and-down share price spike around 8% as of midday trading Thursday on the NASDAQ, after it made an 8-K filing to the SEC outlining new “change in control” terms for severance agreements should an interest buy out the company and displace its management team.
The newly amended “severance benefit plan” describes “benefits to officers at the level of vice president and above of the company,” the SEC filing reads.
The new changes to the plan apply to “change-of-control termination” — i.e. what happens to the severance compensation of VP-and-above-level managers should another company buy Roku and fire its executive team.
Roku has seen its Wall Street fortunes decline dramatically from last summer, with equity analysts bearish on the company's prospects of sustaining its domestically dominant positions in TVOS and advanced advertising, while also being able to successfully proliferate that business globally.
Wall Street very much wants Roku to be taken over. In June, a similar stock surge occurred after management temporarily closed the trading window for employees to sell their vested stock.
The rumor mill has spit out Netflix and Comcast as potential suitors. ▪️
