Georgia Fortune 500 firm is ousting its CEO. Some investors want him to stay.
Two top shareholders of metro Atlanta-based Graphic Packaging are publicly challenging a decision by the consumer packaging giant’s board to oust its chief executive.
New York asset management firm Eminence Capital and Atlanta investment management firm Shapiro Capital Management are mounting a pressure campaign on Graphic Packaging to reverse the leadership change.
Graphic Packaging, a Fortune 500 company headquartered in Sandy Springs, in early December said its CEO and President Michael Doss “mutually agreed” with the company’s board of directors to step down Dec. 31. Doss has held the role since 2016.
Robbert Rietbroek was named as his replacement, effective Jan. 1. He hails from beverage company Primo Brands and held previous roles at PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble.
Graphic Packaging might not be a household name, but it makes the boxes, cups and other containers scores of well-known brands use to package and ship their goods.
The company has about 1,900 employees in Georgia, a spokesperson said.
The CEO shuffle comes as shares of Graphic Packaging have plummeted more than 40% this year and as the company plans staff and cost reductions.
“We believe the GPK Board has made an enormous mistake in replacing Mike Doss with Robbert Rietbroek,” Ricky Sandler, founder and CEO of Eminence Capital, wrote in a Dec. 15 letter to the packaging company’s board.
Eminence Capital, which owns 10.9 million shares of Graphic Packaging, or about 4.2%, made the letter public Dec. 19.
“Robbert has no experience running an operation as complex and dynamic as GPK and putting the company in his hands is a monumental mistake,” Sandler says in the letter.
The independent board members of Graphic Packaging, in a Dec. 19 letter to shareholders, defended their CEO pick, saying the company’s recent performance, and notably its declining stock price, “was a clear signal that meaningful change was required.”
The board in the letter said Rietbroek brings “needed fresh perspectives,” praising his professional achievements and calling him the right person “to further reduce costs and optimize working capital.”
Eminence Capital, in another letter released Monday, clapped back.
“For the board to cast blame for the stock price performance on Doss is preposterous,” says the letter from Sandler.
Neither Eminence Capital nor Shapiro Capital Management said what their next steps might be if they are not satisfied with Graphic Packaging’s response to their complaints.
Graphic Packaging says it produces packaging that appears on every aisle of the grocery store. It also manufactures about 30% of the paper cups in North America and is a supplier to quick-service restaurants, executives have said.
“I guarantee you that in the last 24 hours, you’ve touched something that we make,” Doss said at a September conference.
For example, Graphic Packaging has made a paperboard carrier for certain Coca-Cola bottlers to replace plastic rings. It also created insulated fiber cups for Chick-fil-A.
Graphic Packaging in November reported net sales of $6.5 billion for the nine months ending Sept. 30, down from $6.7 billion for the same period in 2024. Net income for those three quarters in 2025 was $373 million, down from $520 million the prior year.
The broader consumer packaged goods industry has faced challenges as people tighten their spending or switch to private-label brands because of persistent inflation. The packaged food industry is also navigating pressure from the federal government to remove artificial ingredients as part of the “Make America Healthy Initiative” and the growing popularity of GLP-1 weight loss drugs.
Along with weaker volume demand, consumer packaging companies also face higher input and labor costs.
Graphic Packaging’s stock “is down for reasons that quite honestly can’t be controlled, for the most part,” Louis Shapiro, president and chief financial officer of Atlanta-based Shapiro Capital Management, said in an interview. “This board is reacting to a declining stock price and blaming the wrong person.”
Shapiro Capital also wrote a Dec. 15 letter to Graphic Packaging’s board voicing “serious concerns” about the removal of Doss and calling for his reinstatement as CEO. The letter was made public Dec. 19, the same day as the one from Eminence Capital.
Shapiro Capital owns about 5.8 million shares of Graphic Packaging, or roughly 2% of shares outstanding.
The letter said under Doss’ leadership the company has seen improving operating leverage and free cash flow, and is transitioning from a period of heavy capital investment to execution, cost discipline and monetization of assets.
“Against this backdrop, we were struck by the absence of a clearly articulated rationale for Mike’s removal,” Shapiro executives Mike McCarthy, Louis Shapiro, Harry Shapiro and Jon Hunter wrote in the letter. “We were not made aware of any performance failure, strategic disagreement, or governance concern that would explain such a significant leadership change at this stage of the company’s evolution.”
The Shapiro Capital executives also wrote in their letter that the chosen successor “does not have operating experience running a mill-based manufacturing system,” which they called “foundational” at this time for the company.
Graphic Packaging is “at an inflection point where looking forward, they’re going to generate a significant amount of cash. And the plan has been that the cash would be first to pay down debt, get their leverage down, and buy back stock and return capital to shareholders,” Louis Shapiro said. “And we highly endorse that plan.”
Graphic Packaging is based in Georgia, but the company, like many, is incorporated in Delaware.
Eminence Capital said it made a demand under Section 220 of Delaware’s General Corporation Law for books and records regarding the process that culminated in the board’s replacement of Doss “to understand whether — as we strongly suspect — the board’s process lacked the level of substance and rigor such a momentous decision demands,” said the Monday letter.
About the Authors
As business team lead, Kelly Yamanouchi edits and writes business stories. She graduated from Harvard and has a master's degree from Northwestern.
