Harley-Davidson (HOG) Faces H Partners’ “Free The Eagle” Campaign Targeting Zeitz and Long-Tenured Directors

The H Partners presentation (April 29, 2025) attacks Harley-Davidson’s leadership and board for severe underperformance and misleading claims. It argues that under CEO Jochen Zeitz, shareholders lost $2 billion in equity value, TSR lagged benchmarks by ~80%, and Harley lost U.S. market share as overall motorcycle sales rose while its own fell. H Partners criticizes Harley for cherry-picking peers (boat and RV makers) and timeframes to mask weakness, and for overstating progress on its “Hardwire” strategy. The deck shows Harley’s motorcycle margins and free cash flow conversion have deteriorated, its margin premium turned into a gap, and initiatives like LiveWire and Touring failed to deliver. H Partners urges shareholders to hold entrenched directors accountable and back its campaign to “Free the Eagle”.