(Bloomberg) -- Bill Pulte is arguing for the sale of market maker Virtu Financial, contending its chief executive officer, Doug Cifu, spends more time tweeting than focusing on his business.
Cifu isn’t “focused on building a materially bigger business and spends precious time tweeting on items not related to the core operations of the company,” Pulte, chairman of activist investor Pulte Family Office, said Tuesday in a statement. “As such, it now makes sense to put the Company in the hands of professional owners.”
Pulte’s statement didn’t disclose the size of his stake in Virtu. A representative for Virtu declined to comment. The New York-based firm is valued around $5.6 billion, based on the stock’s closing price on Tuesday.
Cifu — who’s also part-owner of the National Hockey League’s Florida Panthers — fired back on X that Pulte is a “sad attention seeking total loser.”
Shares of Virtu, one of the largest US market-making firms, rose 81% this year through Monday. The stock fell 0.8% to $36.29 at 4 p.m. on Tuesday after Pulte called for the sale.
Pulte is the grandson and namesake of a homebuilding industry icon who built PulteGroup Inc. into one of the largest US builders.
The younger Pulte is best known for giving cash to his social media followers through a practice he calls XPhilanthropy. He previously served on the board of directors of his grandfather’s company, though in recent years he has feuded with the firm’s executives.
--With assistance from David Scheer.
(Updates with firm’s market capitalization in third paragraph and removes reference to the Pulte family’s charitable foundation.)
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.