While official results may be several days away, it appears that our three nominees (Jose Maria Alapont, Gary Meyers and David Schechter) have won election as directors of Mentor Graphics, replacing incumbent directors James Fiebiger, Marsha Congdon and Fontaine Richardson. Preliminary results indicate that all three of our nominees won by a meaningfully high margin. We hope this marks the beginning of a secular change in corporate governance that will usher in a new era in which director accountability to shareholders becomes the rule rather than the exception.

This is an important victory for Mentor Graphics shareholders, many of whom clearly shared our belief that change was warranted at the company. This is also a major triumph for shareholder democracy generally. We have always maintained that a board's primary responsibility is to oversee management to ensure that the interests of shareholders – the owners of the company – are zealously protected and advanced above all others. In our view, there is no better way to achieve that goal than to increase the alignment of the interests of directors and owners by allowing owners to have significant board representation.

We continue to believe Mentor's shares are undervalued and are pleased to have provided a mechanism for shareholders to have a greater voice in determining the company's future. Our nominees look forward to a cooperative and productive relationship with the remaining incumbent directors.

SOURCE Carl Icahn