Activist investor Starboard told Pfizer it has taken a stake

• Starboard Value has taken a stake in Pfizer, people familiar with the matter said.
• The drug giant's stock price has fallen significantly since the launch of the Covid-19 vaccine.
• Starboard's stake in Pfizer is worth about $1 billion.

Starboard Value has its next target: pharma giant Pfizer.

The activist investor has told Pfizer it has taken a significant stake in the drugmaker, people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.

Pfizer stock has fallen sharply since hitting a record high in 2021 during the rollout of its COVID-19 vaccine.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported Starboard's partnership, which it and The Financial Times valued at about $1 billion.

Under CEO Albert Borla, Pfizer's annual revenue grew to $100 billion during the pandemic thanks to the release of the first COVID-19 vaccine and later the antiviral treatment Paxlovide in the United States.

But revenue from these products has fallen significantly over the past two years as demand has slumped, and efforts to boost the company's share price — including cost-cutting campaigns and acquisitions — haven't panned out.

Pfizer stock peaked at around $60 a share in December 2021, but has fallen more than 50% since then and the market cap now stands at around $162 billion. Revenues drop to $58.5 billion in 2023.

Shares were trading 2.7% higher in premarket trading early Monday.

Starboard, which managed $8.5 billion in assets at the start of the year, recently took stakes in coffee chain Starbucks and Match Group, owner of dating app Tinder.

It also took a stake in Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and pushed for a breakup of the media conglomerate.

Pfizer declined to comment.