Ethan Allen Saga Continues with Back to Back Releases from Ethan Allen & Doug Bergeron

October 13, 2026  by Karen Parrish in Business Strategy, Industry   

Shareholders are encouraged to be informed about the upcoming election as the company is moving forward.

Ethan Allen Presentation

Ethan Allen Interiors Inc., a leading interior design company, manufacturer and retailer in the home furnishings marketplace, shared a letter from the Company’s Board of Directors to all shareholders in connection with the Company’s Annual Meeting of Stockholders, scheduled to be held at 11:00 A.M. Eastern Standard Time on November 4, 2026. Shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 11, 2026, are entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting.

The Company’s Board is sending shareholders the letter below, which highlights the following key points:

- DGB seeks control of the Company with promises of tripling shareholder value but has not presented an operating plan or a capital allocation strategy to substantiate its claims of growth.

- Ethan Allen has not shut its “digital front door” but has rather deployed online designer appointments, live chat, 3D floor planning and other digital tools that help clients connect with the Company’s personalized design services.

- Ethan Allen’s independent directors are currently working with a nationally recognized search firm on a CEO transition. Changing the Board now would transfer oversight of both the business and the CEO search to five newcomers during an active leadership transition, creating unnecessary execution risk.

- DGB says its nominees have been “held accountable for results.” Shareholders should scrutinize the adverse results documented in the letter during selected periods of nominee service: declining revenue at Grove, declining shareholder returns at Cable One, both at Wayfair, and a restatement and SEC action at VeriFone.

- Ethan Allen is a debt-free, vertically integrated manufacturer-retailer, and its nominees bring the directly relevant skills: global operations, manufacturing, design-center real estate, brand and digital marketing, finance, and governance. DGB has not demonstrated comparable experience overseeing the full complexity of Ethan Allen’s vertically integrated operating model. It is critical that Ethan Allen Shareholders vote “FOR” the Company's five highly qualified nominees and vote “WITHHOLD” on DGB’s nominees on the BLUE proxy card.

The full release from Ethan Allen with comparative information on the upcoming vote can be found HERE.

Doug Bergeron Presentation

Doug Bergeron, a significant shareholder of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. with beneficial ownership, collectively with his affiliates and associates, of approximately 5.2% of Ethan Allen’s outstanding common stock, released a comprehensive presentation detailing why the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) must be reconstituted following two decades of contraction and governance failures, and how, if elected, his five highly qualified director nominees would responsibly transition leadership and execute a focused plan to restore growth, accountability, and shareholder value at the Company.

Mr. Bergeron encourages all shareholders to review the presentation, which is available here, so they can make an informed decision regarding the future of their investment at the Company’s 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the “Annual Meeting”).

Highlights of the presentation include:

- The Assets of a Winner, the Record of a Company in Retreat. Ethan Allen is an iconic American brand with more than 90 years of heritage, ~61% gross margins, owned North American manufacturing and customization, a national showroom and design network, and substantial financial flexibility. Yet despite continued promises of growth by the Board and management, since fiscal year 2006, the Company is down materially across nearly every discernible metric – revenue, earnings, enterprise value, market capitalization, and workforce – while peers invested in brand, digital, and stores and compounded into much larger platforms.

- A Board That Protected the Status Quo. After 38 years under the same Chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari, Mr. Bergeron believes the Board chose acquiescence over accountability, repeatedly extending Mr. Kathwari’s tenure and lowering performance hurdles. Since the 2015 proxy contest alone, the Board has delivered more than $55 million of compensation and special-dividend value to Mr. Kathwari, his family and related entities1, while shareholders and employees were left with a shrinking company.

- The Directors Who Presided Over the Decline Should Not Select the Next CEO. A formal CEO search and transition timetable became public on September 21, 2026, only after Mr. Bergeron and his director candidates launched their own independent CEO search on September 10, 2026. The same directors who failed to plan for succession, repeatedly extended Mr. Kathwari’s tenure, and failed to impose sufficient accountability as the business contracted should not be entrusted to choose Mr. Kathwari’s successor.

- Five Nominees, One Complementary Board. Doug Bergeron, Anna Brockway, Kristine Miller, Steve Oblak, and Stefanie Tsen Ward bring complementary experience across home furnishings, modern retail, brand, digital, merchandising, manufacturing, growth, capital allocation, transformation, and governance. These are the capabilities and skills required by Ethan Allen today – and precisely the capabilities and skills lacked by the incumbent Board.

- A Focused Plan and a Clear First 100 Days. Mr. Bergeron and his director nominees have developed a focused and actionable plan to responsibly transition leadership and position Ethan Allen for the future. The plan will seek to:

Rejuvenate the Ethan Allen brand and ignite customer growth;

Transform product and merchandising;

Revitalize digital and retail experiences; and

Improve operations and technology.

Additional materials related to Mr. Bergeron’s campaign, including video interviews with his five director candidates, may be found at www.EthanAllenGrowth.com. Shareholders are encouraged to follow the campaign’s LinkedIn and X pages to stay informed in real time.

The full release from Mr. Bergeron can be found HERE.