Activist investor wants CBIZ to get back to M&A

When stock prices fall, activists arise.

CBIZ’s stock has plummeted 52% in the past year, and sure enough, an activist investor has come along with ideas about how the accounting and professional services firm should do things differently.

Reference Equity sent a letter and proposal to CBIZ leadership on June 15 arguing that the firm should end its share buybacks and return to M&A to spur growth, Bloomberg reported.

The Denver-based investment management firm calls M&A “a central pillar of CBIZ’s long-term strategy.” Three-quarters of the firm’s growth over the past decade has come from M&A, Reference Equity pointed out in its 24-page proposal. In 2024, for example, CBIZ acquired Marcum in a $2.3 billion deal.

In March of this year, though, President and CEO Jerry Grisko made remarks suggesting the firm’s de-emphasizing deals: “We would be very selective through 2026 on any acquisition opportunities…we wouldn’t expect anything of scale or size really in ’26.”

Reference Equity portfolio manager Ryan Bunn said in a press release that “CBIZ has the corporate development capability and demonstrated integration playbook to lead consolidation in its industry. Today, however, CBIZ is constrained by its capital structure.”

Buyback challenge. In February 2026, CBIZ’s board approved the continuation of a plan to buy back up to 5 million shares of stock using operating cash flows and credit.

Bunn told Bloomberg that he’s concerned the buybacks reflect too much of a short-term focus. “Philosophically, it’s a crucial moment,” he said. “They need to support their long-term business model, instead of just pursuing the highest mathematical return today.”

Reference Equity recommends that CBIZ curtail the buybacks while reducing net debt and raising $175 million in equity from “active, long-term shareholders” to make M&A deals.

CBIZ is facing some competition among top-10 firms. Private equity-backed Baker Tilly dislodged CBIZ from its spot as the country’s seventh-largest accounting firm when it merged with Moss Adams in 2025. Baker Tilly leaders have expressed the desire to become a “national powerhouse.”

Reference Equity, for its part, believes that, with the right strategy, CBIZ could stay a strong contender, one that could “challenge the ‘Big 4’ by 2035,” as it wrote in its letter to Grisko.