Mentor Graphics, the $1.5 billion software company that helps design computer chips, has attracted some big investors, including Carl Icahn, the activist investor, and Donald Drapkin, founder and chairman of Casablanca Capital. Both agree that the company's decision to move up its shareholder meeting disenfranchised many shareholders.
Getty Images
Carl Icahn
"We've come to the conclusion, especially after seeing what just happened, that the company should be acquired, or at the very least it should be put up for sale and see what the shareholders want to do with it," Carl Icahn, who owns 15.7 percent of Mentor, told CNBC on Tuesday.
"We have talked to them [Mentor Graphics] once or twice in a friendly way concerning the company and they moved up this date without really telling anymore...they knew they were doing it three weeks ago and obviously they're doing it to get a quick meeting going," Carl Icahn said.
Donald Drapkin's Casablanca, which owns 5.48 percent of Mentor , sent a letter to the company stating they should "...consider whether you are putting your personal positions with Mentor ahead of the interests of all shareholders..."
"The company is substantially undervalued versus its peers," Drapkin said, adding, "management's done nothing to promote shareholder value, they've just been just sitting on their hands."
"It's just a sleepy company run like a country club," Drapkin added.
"Companies should realize, and managements and boards should realize, that they don't own these companies. These companies are not their piggy banks. These companies are owned by shareholders and you have to make companies more efficient," Icahn concluded.
Follow Strategy Session on Twitter: @CNBCStrategy
Watch CNBC's "The Strategy Session" weekdays at Noon ET.
