Doug Bergeron Comments on Ethan Allen’s Reactionary “Succession Plan”
Contested Director Election Now Poses a Fundamental Governance Question: Which Director Slate Should Shareholders Trust to Select and Oversee Ethan Allen’s Next CEO?
Reiterates Independent CEO Search Led by Highly Qualified Alternative Slate of Director Candidates Already Underway
PARK CITY, Utah–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Doug Bergeron, a significant shareholder of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. (“Ethan Allen” or the “Company”) (NYSE: ETD) with beneficial ownership, collectively with his affiliates and associates, of 5.2% of Ethan Allen’s outstanding common stock, today issued the following statement in response to the Company’s September 21, 2026 announcement of a CEO succession process:
“Ethan Allen’s September 21, 2026 recognition that the Company needs new leadership is too little, too late. Questions about CEO succession have hung over Ethan Allen for more than a decade. The Company’s Board of Directors (the ‘Board’) had years to develop a thoughtful succession plan. Yet only when pressured by our campaign did the Board’s ‘plan’ suddenly come to light. This last-ditch announcement is an abject failure of governance, and continues a pattern of rash and reactionary maneuvers by the Board following the Company’s special dividend declared last month.
“The chronology is difficult to ignore. On August 7, Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari stated publicly that succession was an issue the Board had ‘never raised.’ On September 10, we announced that our alternative slate of director candidates had launched an independent CEO search. The next day, Ethan Allen filed its preliminary proxy statement without disclosing a formal CEO search or a specific transition timeline. Today, the Board describes an ‘ongoing formal’ process and says a search firm is already identifying and evaluating candidates. A credible succession process should not have needed a proxy contest to become visible to shareholders.
“The Board now says it needs a CEO to accelerate digital, omnichannel, and supply-chain execution – areas Farooq has spent years insisting Ethan Allen was ‘well positioned’ to address, and precisely the shortcomings our campaign has highlighted. A Board comprised of loyalists to Farooq, who repeatedly extended his tenure and increased his compensation while he presided over a shrinking, less competitive, and less valuable business, is utterly unqualified to select the next CEO of Ethan Allen. Shareholders should ask themselves whom they trust to identify the next CEO: the Board who failed to act until forced, or our nominees who made the Company act. In other words, are the directors who presided over Ethan Allen’s shortcomings the right people to select the leader now charged with fixing them?
“It is especially concerning that Farooq may continue to serve as Chairman and CEO throughout a succession process that, under the Board’s own timeline, could run through June 30, 2027. Ethan Allen cannot afford nine more months of the same leadership while the incumbent Board manages a transition it should have commenced years ago. Two decades of deteriorating operating performance, culminating in the Company’s disappointing fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2026 results, do not argue for patience – they underscore the cost of delay and the need for independent Board leadership now. Shareholders should not be fooled by claims of continuity and stability, which, in reality, means continued contraction and declines in sales, profits, and relevance.
“It is time for a fresh start. Ethan Allen’s next chapter requires a new Board that is capable of maximizing the Company’s potential. We already have a CEO search underway, led by high-caliber nominees who have proven records of revitalizing brands while driving results and accountability, and who have the expertise needed to restore profitable growth at Ethan Allen. Ethan Allen shareholders deserve a board that is thoughtful, qualified to govern a modern retail business, and committed to working tirelessly on behalf of shareholders, not just when backed into a corner. If the current Board remains in control of the Company, shareholders should expect more of the same: incompetence and underperformance.”
For more information on Mr. Bergeron’s campaign, including the case for change and nominee biographies, shareholders are encouraged to visit www.EthanAllenGrowth.com.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
DGB Investment, Inc. and Douglas G. Bergeron, together with the other participants in their solicitation (collectively, “DGB”), have filed a definitive proxy statement and accompanying WHITE universal proxy card with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to be used to solicit proxies with respect to the election of DGB’s slate of highly qualified director candidates and the other proposals to be presented at the 2026 annual meeting of stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”) of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”). Stockholders are advised to read the proxy statement and any other documents related to the solicitation of stockholders of the Company in connection with the Annual Meeting because they contain important information, including information relating to the participants in DGB’s proxy solicitation. These materials and other materials filed by DGB with the SEC in connection with the solicitation of proxies are available at no charge on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov. The definitive proxy statement and other relevant documents filed by DGB with the SEC are also available, without charge, by directing a request to DGB’s proxy solicitor, Okapi Partners LLC, at its toll-free number (877) 285-5990 or via email at [email protected].
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260921560817/en/
Media Contact:
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Investor Contact:
Bruce Goldfarb / Chuck Garske
Okapi Partners
(877) 285-5990
[email protected]
KEYWORDS: United States North America Utah
INDUSTRY KEYWORDS: Professional Services Finance
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