PulteGroup Founder Makes Another Plea For Immediate Removal Of CEO

PulteGroup Inc. founder Bill Pulte sent another letter Monday to the home builder's board, calling for the immediate removal and replacement of Chief Executive Richard Dugas. Pulte said Dugas' current "value creation strategy" has done the opposite for the company, which has lost over $530 million in the 12 years Dugas has been in charge. "In Richard Dugas' hands, PulteGroup's 'value creation' means 'value destruction,'" Pulte's letter said. Pulte also said Dugas "couldn't be more wrong" to characterize the disagreement between Pulte and Dugas as a "family squabble," and said it was not in the best interest of shareholders to allow Dugas to remain as a "lame duck" CEO for another year. Pulte had sent a letter to the board last week calling for Dugas' immediate removal, after the company said Dugas would retire effective May 2017. The stock, which slipped 0.1% in premarket trade, has tumbled 20% over the past year, compared with a 3.8% decline in the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF and a 2.6% drop in the S&P 500.