#Lifeway Foods #shareholder activism #Edward Smolyansky

Lifeway Foods Shareholder Update by Edward Smolyansky

On July 29, 2025, Edward and Ludmila Smolyansky, long-term shareholders of Lifeway Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ: LWAY), provided a crucial update regarding their consent solicitation process initiated on July 2, 2025. They control roughly 26% of the outstanding shares and have expressed their intention to restore board accountability as well as mitigate shareholder disenfranchisement.

The Smolyanskys are highlighting what they perceive as a failure of the company's board and its CEO, Julie Smolyansky, to act in the best interests of shareholders. They argue that the board has taken actions detrimental to shareholder value, including rejecting a substantial buyout offer from Danone that represented a 72% premium to the stock's value at the time. This refusal, they claim, serves to protect a management team that has not laid out a convincing plan for increasing shareholder value.

Among the issues raised is the board's behavior towards its key shareholders, which the Smolyanskys believe has created unnecessary uncertainty surrounding Lifeway's future. They are particularly alarmed by what they view as manipulative tactics employed by the board to avoid accountability. These tactics include:

• - The refusal to set up an independent committee to assess Danone's proposals.
• - The adoption of a