On April 24, 2025, Autodesk, Inc. announced that it has entered into a cooperation agreement with Starboard Value LP that includes the appointment of two independent directors, Jeff Epstein and Christie Simons, to Autodesk’s board of directors. Autodesk and Starboard have entered into an Information Sharing and Discussion Agreement to facilitate ongoing collaboration toward the goal of driving sustainable value creation for all shareholders. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has represented Autodesk for decades and advised the company on the cooperation agreement.

In addition to the board appointments, as part of the cooperation agreement, Starboard will withdraw its director nominees and has agreed to customary standstill, voting, and other provisions. The full agreement will be filed as an exhibit to a Form 8-K with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Wilson Sonsini team advising Autodesk was led by corporate partner Richard Blake and shareholder engagement and activism partner Sebastian Alsheimer. Though this was an activism situation, a cross-disciplinary Wilson Sonsini team that included litigation partner Caz Hashemi and Delaware governance litigation partner Brad Sorrels was highly involved in advising Autodesk on the matter.

Other key members of the Wilson Sonsini team included:

Shareholder Engagement and Activism
Marty Korman
Doug Schnell
Lucas Wherry
James Bernstein

Corporate (including Delaware)
Amy Simmerman
James Griffin-Stanco
Lillian Jenks
Caiti VerBrugge
Jordan Cramer
Sarah Hand

Securities Litigation
Stephen Strain
Jessica Snorgrass

Delaware Litigation
Joseph Slights
Andy Cordo
Daniyal Iqbal
Joshua Manning

For more information, please refer to Autodesk’s news release.