A billionaire Biden megadonor faces being ousted as CEO of the tech company he founded because of “serious concerns” about his performance, The Post has learned.
Joe Kiani could be forced out as CEO and chairman of medical device company Masimo by July after an activist hedge fund accused him of failing to run the company properly, letting the share price plunge and even failing to say what the company’s annual budget is.
The company has given Kiani, 59, an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion according to Forbes and in 2020 made him healthcare’s highest-paid CEO, with a package of $222.5 million — a year in which he gave millions to Democrats.
Kiani calls Pres. Biden “my dear friend,” has hugged him on stage and even offered Biden’s troubled niece Caroline a job at the company to meet her probation conditions after a theft conviction.
Biden appointed Kiani to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2021, giving Kiani a powerful platform.
And as well as massive donations to PACs supporting Biden’s campaign and the Obama and Clinton Foundations, Kiani’s Masimo Foundation gave $40,000 to Jewish Voice for Peace, the anti-Israel radical group which has itself bankrolled campus protests, The Post has learned.
Now hedge fund Politan Capital Management is asking shareholders to vote him off the company board, which he chairs, accusing him of a series of failings.
Masimo has previously defended Kiani and in April issued a statement saying that removing him would be “counter to stockholders’ best interests, as well as those of the hundreds of millions of patients who rely on Masimo’s innovations.”
A spokeperson for Kiani defended his record and his foundation’s donations to The Post and said, “35 years ago, Joe Kiani started a company focused on improving people’s lives and helping those that are suffering.
“The Foundation’s giving reflects those values which is why the Foundation is proud to support many organizations that have the same goals.
“He has raised and donated millions to anti-hate organizations around the world, including multiple organizations that are combating antisemitism.”
Masimo, which specializes in medical devices that check patients’ health data like brain activity and blood oxygen levels, has seen its share price and plunge from $303 in November 2021 to just above $120 now.
It fell 34% over the last year alone, at the same time as competitors Stryker and Globus saw their stock surge roughly 12%.
Politan has amassed a 9% stake in the $7.1 billion company, more than Kiani’s 8.5%, holds two out of six board seats and now is asking shareholders to give it two more board seats that are up for re-election — one of which is Kiani’s.
A majority of board seats would then allow Politan to fire Kiani as CEO. Politan says he is to blame for Masimo’s falling share price.
“Joe Kiani refused to give us basic information, denied us access to management, repeatedly held board meetings excluding us, and refused to even consider allowing any review of capital allocation or strategy,” managing director at Politan Quentin Koffey claimed in statement, adding, “Politan has serious concerns given the lack of basic governance and oversight we have observed.”
Shareholders will vote in July on whether Kiani will keep his board seat and by implication, his CEO job.
Firing Kiani from Masimo would turn off a cash spigot for the Iranian-born entrepreneur which he has used as a gusher for Democrats — although he has a contractual golden parachute of $600m if he is fired.
Kiani has raked in hundreds of millions from Masimo in recent years— hauling in $222.5 million in 2020, $52.7 million in 2021, and $16.5 million in 2022.
He also borrowed an undisclosed sum against $660 million worth of shares for “family reasons” last month according to a recent filing, first reported by CNBC.
Kiani has spent some of his cash on a $50 million, 8,000 acre vineyard in Santa Barbara, California, where he hosted Hunter Biden and wife Melissa Cohen in April last year.
He also set up the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare in 2010 and chairs the non-profit.
It is closely enmeshed with Masimo. The company’s chief financial officer is the non-profit’s treasurer and its general counsel is the foundation’s secretary, while one of the foundation’s directors is Kiani’s wife, Sarah.
While the majority of the Masimo Foundation’s grants went to health care non-profits, it gave out $4.7 million to the Clinton Foundation between 2015 and 2018.
It contributed $2 million to the Barack Obama Foundation between 2011 and 2023 and $1.6 million to foundations associated with Joe Biden, including the Beau Biden Foundation and the Biden Cancer Initiative.
Kiani”s personal donations include $750,000 to Biden’s 2020 PAC, Unite the Country, and $250,000 in 2022 to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund.
His relationship with the Bidens is personal as well as financial.
Kiani offered an $85,000-a-year job in Los Angeles to Caroline Biden in July 2018, according to emails and texts found on Hunter’s laptop, which would have allowed her to meet her probation conditions after a conviction for using a stolen credit card. She turned it down scoffing it was “below minimum wage.”
And Kiani’s daughter, Catherine, worked as an intern for First Lady Jill Biden, greeting guests at a 2022 state dinner for French Pres. Emannuel Macron which the Kianis attended.
Kiani is also at war with Apple. He filed three lawsuits against the company, accusing it of stealing his patented technology that measures oxygen in the blood and using it in the latest Apple Watches.
The Biden administration backed his successful attempt to have sales of some Apple Watches banned by the US International Trade Commission. The company decided to turn off the blood oxygen monitoring to allow sales to continue and has appealed the ban.
