Tempur Sealy shareholders vote to remove CEO, chairman

Boston: Spurred by an activist investor, shareholders of Tempur Sealy International voted on Friday to overhaul the mattress maker’s board, including stripping the company’s chief executive of a director seat.

Shareholders voted against the re-election of the chief executive, Mark A. Sarvary, as well as those of Tempur Sealy’s chairman, P. Andrews McLane, and the chairman of the board’s corporate governance committee, ChristopherA. Masto, according to initial results from the company’s annual meeting.

Lexington-based Tempur Sealy acknowledged in a statement that the three men had failed to win re-election and would offer to resign.

But the board’s corporate governance committee will decide whether to accept those resignations.

Shares of Tempur Sealy were up more than 3 percent in afternoon trading.

All three directors had been the targets of H Partners, which emerged in February as an outspoken critic of the mattress manufacturer’s financial performance.

The investment firm, which claims to own about 10 percent of Tempur Sealy’s stock, has argued that the company has underperformed both rivals and the broader stock markets.

This story was originally published May 9, 2015 at 7:05 AM with the headline "Tempur Sealy shareholders vote to remove CEO, chairman."