The last we checked in on happenings at CBIZ, we reported some info provided via the tipline that the firm had ended its employee stock purchase program which allowed employees to nab up to $25,000 in CBIZ stock per year at a nice discount. That story is getting an update with some data from SEC filings but in the meantime, we have another story to discuss and that’s how a CBIZ shareholder took out a press release urging them to start buying stuff. A press release. There’s something hilariously petty about that. It actually gets pettier than that but let’s do the press release first.
Reference Equity, a shareholder of CBIZ, Inc., today released a letter and accompanying presentation delivered to the Company’s Board of Directors and management, calling on CBIZ to suspend share repurchases and restart its acquisition program.
Reference Equity has strong conviction in CBIZ’s business model, culture, and management, and its proposal is designed to reinforce and extend the Company’s core strengths. M&A is a central pillar of CBIZ’s long-term strategy: acquisitions strengthen the franchise by adding scale and capabilities, create growth and advancement opportunities for employees, and drive margin expansion through corporate synergies.
“CBIZ has the corporate development capability and demonstrated integration playbook to lead consolidation in its industry. Today, however, CBIZ is constrained by its capital structure. We are asking the Board to suspend buybacks and raise equity capital to protect CBIZ’s competitive position and seed the next decade of growth,” said Ryan Bunn, Reference Equity portfolio manager.
Now for part two of Reference Equity’s efforts to cattleprod CBIZ into doing acquisitions: they built a whole website. This is from cbizflywheel.com (and also appears in the press release but this is more visually appealing):
If that’s not enough, there’s also a 24-page slide deck with plenty of bullets and numbers.
Bloomberg ran a story about this yesterday and spoke to RF:
Reference Equity’s Bunn said the firm is publicly disclosing its campaign now “out of love for the business.” CBIZ will be weaker if it continues to do buybacks as the rest of the accounting industry moves to invest in and consolidate around artificial intelligence, he said.
“Philosophically, it’s a crucial moment,” Bunn said. “They need to support their long-term business model, instead of just pursuing the highest mathematical return today.”
Well if you’re into mathematics definitely check out that slide deck, there’s all kinds of it in there. It also has Reference Equity’s June 15, 2026 letter to CBIZ CEO Jerry Grisko and Chairman Rick L. Burdick.
Thoughts or feelings may be expressed in the comment section or via the tipline if you have additional insight to add to this situation that’s best shared behind the scenes.
