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Investing.com -- Shares in PulteGroup Inc (NYSE:PHM) inched up on Tuesday in after-hours trading after board member James Grosfeld announced his resignation from the Board of Directors in the latest setback for the embattled homebuilder.
The nation's third-largest homebuilder is currently embroiled in a bitter fight between company founder William Pulte and CEO Richard Dugas over the direction of the company. Last week, Dugas announced plans to resign later next year due to irreconcilable differences with Pulte. Tensions between the two executives reached a boiling point in recent days, as Dugas has expressed extreme discontent with the company's stock price, which has tumbled 20% over the last 12 months. The dispute stems from a decision by the Dugas-led company to move its headquarters from Detroit to Atlanta two years ago.
“In my opinion, for the Board of Directors to even consider letting Richard Dugas stay another year as a lame duck CEO puts the personal interests of Richard Dugas ahead of the interests of the company and works to the detriment of the shareholders, the employees, and our customers, who are watching a board protect a failed CEO,” Pulte said in a statement on Monday.
Grosfeld, who served as the CEO of Pulte Holmes for more than 15 years beginning in 1974, has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1997. Grosfeld, 78, is also a member of the Board of Directors at BlackRock and a trustee of Lexington Realty Trust since 2003. Grosfeld had served as an independent director with Pulte Group since early-December.
Grosfeld wrote in a letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) Commission on Tuesday that since the Board last met on March 22 he has been "excluded from a number of subsequent meetings, and therefore (sees) no useful purpose of remaining on the Board."
Shares in Pulte Group gained 0.16 or 0.90% to 18.00 in after-hours trading.