Rockstar Founder Builds $300M Celsius Stake, Launches Activist Offense: Management "All Need To Be Fired"
Summary:
- CELH shares Jump on CNBC Headline
- Rockstar Founder Amasses 5.7% CELH stake, Tells CNBC He Wants To Be CEO
- Thursday: Celsius Shares Crash As Revenue Misses Estimates
Rockstar Founder Begins Activist Move
One day after Celsius Holdings crashed 18% following a dismal second-quarter earnings report, Rockstar Energy founder Russ Savage told CNBC that he has amassed a 4.7% stake, equivalent to more than 12 million shares, and wants to gut incompetent management and install himself as CEO in a bid to turn around the struggling beverage company.
Here's more from CNBC:
Savage's stake amounts to roughly 4.7% of the company and would be worth about $300 million at current stock levels.
While Savage has been quietly advising Celsius to change its cost structure and marketing strategy for over a year, he now says new leadership is needed.
"The CEO, the COO, the brand manager and the marketing manager all need to be fired," Savage told CNBC.
. . .
Savage, who was born Russell Weiner and started Rockstar with a $50,000 mortgage against his California condo, said he offered advice to Celsius over a year ago, but was largely ignored. He said Celsius has too many layers of management, with too many costs, and no real accountability.
"They need one person making the decisions, paying attention to every detail, not a group of people in a firing squad," he said.
. . .
"Once you lose shelf space, you're dead," he said. "The chains will give it to Red Bull or Monster."
Savage said he's offering to take over as CEO before the problems become too deep to fix. When building Rockstar, he said he managed every detail -- from sales and marketing to sponsorships, packaging, distribution and innovation. He said the same type of cost-conscious, driven leader is needed at Celsius.
"I'm publicly volunteering to do it," he said. "The CEO has lost credibility with the investment community."
The CNBC headline catapulted the stock 12% higher by late morning in New York. Shares have yet to recover all of yesterday's losses following the dismal earnings report. More details can be viewed below.
Latest short data from Bloomberg shows about 20% of the float is short.
Squeeze candidate?
Celsius Shares Crash As Revenue Misses Estimates
Celsius Holdings, the Florida-based beverage company with a portfolio of some of America's top-performing energy drinks, reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter results, as revenue, adjusted earnings, and profitability missed Wall Street estimates.
Second-quarter adjusted earnings fell to 36 cents per share from 47 cents a year earlier, below the 41-cent Bloomberg Consensus estimate. Revenue increased 11% to $817.9 million but missed the $872.6 million estimate, with North American sales of $790.7 million also falling short.
Profitability deteriorated despite sales growth. Gross margin narrowed to 48.1% from 51.5% as promotional activity, channel mix, and aluminum inflation weighed on results. Net income fell 45% to $55.3 million, while adjusted earnings declined to 36 cents per share from 47 cents. Adjusted EBITDA dropped 12% to $184.2 million.
2Q Earnings Snapshot:
Adjusted EPS 36c vs. 47c y/y, estimate 41c (Bloomberg Consensus)
EPS 14c vs. 33c y/y, estimate 40c
Revenue $817.9 million, +11% y/y, estimate $872.6 million
- North America revenue $790.7 million, +11% y/y, estimate $847.3 million
- International revenue $27.2 million, +9.7% y/y
Gross margin 48.1% vs. 51.5% y/y, estimate 48.6%
Adjusted Ebitda $184.2 million, -12% y/y, estimate $198.4 million
Celsius shares plunged 16% in premarket trading.
"During the second quarter of 2026, we made meaningful progress in advancing Celsius Holdings as a scaled portfolio of leading brands. We delivered a double-digit increase in second-quarter revenue, completed the Rockstar integration, and maintained gross margin near first-quarter levels despite a challenging commodity environment," CEO John Fieldly wrote in a press release.
Celsius Holdings' portfolio, which includes CELSIUS, Alani Nu, and the U.S. and Canadian Rockstar Energy business, accounts for about 20% of U.S. ready-to-drink energy sales. PepsiCo serves as the company's primary distribution partner.
Notably, the national average price for regular 87-octane gasoline remained mostly above $4 per gallon in the quarter, a key threshold at which consumer behavior begins to shift through trade-downs and reduced discretionary purchases. Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog previously flagged a slowdown in energy-drink demand beginning in mid-May. Read the full note here.