Ethan Allen shareholders oust CEO Kathwari from the board and hand activist Bergeron control

Shareholders of Ethan Allen Interiors voted to remove Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari from the company's board at Wednesday's annual meeting, giving activist investor Doug Bergeron and his allies a board majority, according to Investing.com. The Wall Street Journal carried the same outcome under the headline that shareholders handed board control to Bergeron. The results are preliminary: Investing.com reported that the company had not yet issued a statement confirming them.

Ethan Allen (NYSE: ETD) traded at $21.22 at 2:51 PM ET, up $0.96 or 4.74% from a $20.26 close, according to Nasdaq quote data. That gives it a market value of about $535 million.

What the vote changed

Per the preliminary count, Bergeron, Kristine Miller and Steve Oblak were elected. Lead Independent Director David Sable and director Cynthia Ekberg Tsai lost their seats, along with Kathwari. Bergeron, who owns about 5.2% of the company with his affiliates, said the new board will focus on CEO succession, governance and a plan to restore profitable growth, and that he will work with Kathwari on an orderly transition.

The number behind the number: the fight was about timing, not about whether Kathwari leaves

The obvious read is that shareholders pushed out a long-serving chief executive. The company's own filing shows that Kathwari was already on his way out. In an October 30 press release filed with the SEC, Ethan Allen said the next CEO would be announced by June 30, 2027, that the CEO and chair roles would be separated, and that Kathwari would become a non-executive director and leave the board at the 2027 annual meeting.

So the question put to shareholders was who runs the search and holds the next executive accountable, and how fast. The vote moved that decision from the incumbent board to Bergeron's group. Whether the June 2027 deadline holds is now up to the new board, and the company has not said.

What the company is working with

The same release said Ethan Allen produced $52.5 million in operating cash flow in fiscal 2026 and ended the year with no debt, and that marketing spending rose 10% last year with a further 15% increase projected for fiscal 2027. Revenue is the weaker figure. Using the SEC's XBRL data from the company's annual report, sales were $579.5 million for the year ended June 30, 2026, against $614.6 million a year earlier, a decline of 5.7% by our arithmetic. The stock is 15.8% below its December 2025 high on our chart.

Sales falling while spending on marketing rises is the tension the new board inherits. A balance sheet with no debt gives it room to choose between more investment, buybacks or a sale, but nothing in the filings says which it will pick.

Who it hits

For independent furniture and design shops, Ethan Allen is both a supplier model and a competitor: it runs its own design centers and sells direct. A change in strategy, whether more wholesale, more online or a different store footprint, would change what a local interiors business can expect from a national brand with a manufacturing and delivery network.

What to watch

• The final tally and an 8-K. Companies report official voting results to the SEC, normally within four business days of a meeting. Until then the figures are preliminary.
• Earnings. Nasdaq lists the next report for November 9, 2026, the first with the new board in place.
• Succession. Whether the new board keeps the June 30, 2027 deadline or names someone sooner.

Sources: Investing.com; Wall Street Journal (headline); Ethan Allen press release via SEC EDGAR (DEFA14A filed Oct. 30, 2026); SEC XBRL company data; Nasdaq quote data at 2:51 PM ET. Quotes may be delayed. This is market information, not investment advice.