Michael J. de la Merced of the New York Times reported that Starboard Value, which started the proxy fight, just sent a letter to Mellanox attacking its policy of stock grants to executives. The letter suggests that pattern of sales and purchases of recipients of the stock grants indicates that the executives do not believe in the company's future.

According to the article, Starboard Value is an activist hedge fund that succeeded in replacing the entire board of another company last fall. According to the article that it referenced, that proxy fight was caused by a disagreement over whether Darden Restaurants should create a separate company for its Red Lobster and Olive Garden chains.