Activist Shareholders

CEO Dead Pool: Pandit Vs Lewis

            CEO     Vikram Pandit     Kenneth Lewis         Company               Going Against Him Slow to cut costs, snowballing losses, spins all results positively, voracious consumer of taxpayer funds Bad acquisition of Countrywide, worse deal for Merrill, bonus scandal, gorged on i-bankers at peak of market      Going For Him Engineering background, Suaveness. Southern…

Behold the Power of the 13D

  SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 SCHEDULE 13D Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Amendment No. –)* (Name of Issuer) …………………………………………………………………………………………………. (Title of Class of Securities) …………………………………………………………………………………………………. (CUSIP Number) …………………………………………………………………………………………………. (Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications) …………………………………………………………………………………………………. I plan to do a lot of posts…

Golden Age for Activist Investors? 'Bout Time!

“A lot of people die fighting tyranny.  The least I can do is vote against it.” – Activist Carl Icahn, Texaco Annual Shareholder Meeting 1998 Could 2009 be a Golden Age for Activist Investors?  Ken Squire wrote a pretty convincing case in Barron’s this week and I can only say that it’s about time. His…

Hot Links: When Giants Clash

Hot Links for Weekend Reading Shedlock vs Schiff The big hullabaloo in Wall Street Blogland this week was the unsolicited Peter Schiff beatdown issued by Michael “Mish” Shedlock (Sitka Advisors) on his Global Economic Trend Analysis site.  Mish was sick of all the “Peter Schiff Was Right” promotional videos floating around and decided to call…

Missing the Point on Peltz's Sale of Heinz Shares

In Barron’s writer Avi Salzman‘s recent Inside Scoop piece “Peltz Cuts Back on Ketchup Giant” there is a major missed opportunity to put the story into a broader context that is way more interesting than the article’s original premise. Writing about some recent sales of Heinz (HNZ) stock by Nelson Peltz of the Trian Companies,…