Activist investor wins 3 Norfolk Southern board seats but won’t have control to fire CEO

FILE - Norfolk Southern locomotives are moved through the Conway Terminal in Conway, Pa., June 17, 2023. Norfolk Southern shareholders will decide Thursday, May 9, 2024, whether to back an activist investor’s bid to take over the railroad’s board and replace management. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

Norfolk Southern’s CEO will be under more pressure to improve profits after the railroad’s shareholders voted Thursday to elect three of the board members an activist investor nominated, but he won’t be fired right away.

Ancora Holdings had nominated seven directors as part of a bid to take control of the railroad’s 13-member board and overhaul its operations. The key support Ancora picked up from major investors, two major rail unions and proxy advisory firms wasn’t enough to persuade shareholders to elect Ancora’s entire slate.

Ancora executive Jim Chadwick blamed passive investors for failing to support the investors’ nominees. Chadwick promised to hold CEO Alan Shaw accountable and keep fighting to improve the railroad.