IBM’s acquisition of HashiCorp was not well received by the company’s shareholders, who fear that only HashiCorp’s management will make money.

HashiCorp has received nasty mail from the Oakland District Court in California. A shareholder named Michelle Graff is trying to legally block the recently announced takeover of the company. At the end of April, IBM announced that it would take over HashiCorp for $6.4 billion.

HashiCorp shareholders don’t like that. The plaintiff accuses HashiCorp’s management of only thinking about their own bank account and not that of their own and other shareholders. “The breakdown of the benefits of the deal shows that HashiCorp insiders are the primary beneficiaries of the proposed transaction and not the company’s public shareholders,” the complaint states.

golden parachute

HashiCorp executives own significant amounts of cash in the company. For example, CEO Dave McJannet owns about $270 million in stock and options, while CTO Amon Dadgar owns as much as $640 million.

The lawsuit accuses management of receiving a “golden parachute” while shareholders were left empty-handed. It also discusses withholding material financial information from proxy statements regarding the planned acquisition.

The angry shareholder is still trying to block the takeover in court. HashiCorp itself has not yet responded to the complaint. In any case, IBM dug deep into its pockets to acquire HashiCorp. The total value of the company was estimated at around $5 billion at the time of the announcement.