It’s no secret that businesspeople working in high-stakes finance positions and hedge funds have to be somewhat cut-throat to get ahead. Dan Loeb, Bill Ackman, and Carl Icahn are some of the most successful American businessmen working in hedge funds today, and they are perfect examples who have famously feuded over business dealings in the past. With this in mind, it was something of a shock when Loeb, Ackman, and Icahn gathered together to participate in a panel discussion earlier this month.
The panel, hosted by Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), was held at the New York Athletic Club in Midtown Manhattan last Thursday, June 11. According to Business Insider, it was the first time the three hedge fund billionaires sat on a panel together, and, despite their past disputes, they were described as “playing nice.” One source reportedly commented that the three business bigwigs “were very polite and complimentary with one another.” This is certainly a far cry from the decade-long business feud between Ackman and Icahn, as well as the numerous infamous jabs directed at the two by Loeb.
Reports Business Insider, “During the panel, the three fund managers discussed how the activist strategy has changed over the years. For example, in the 1980s, the ‘greenmail’ strategy – a practice where companies would fend off aggressors by buying back their shares at above the market price – would only benefit the activists at the expense of the other investors.”
The article also goes on to explain that “the idea is that nowadays all of the shareholders make money if the activist investor is successful.” At Business Bigwigs, we’ve written at length about activist investors, including the ways in which companies do benefit from them. Activist investors like Loeb, Ackman, and Icahn have definitely driven trends in contemporary investing and hedge funds, and are exemplary of what activist investment is all about.
About Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS)
ISS is the world’s leading provider of corporate governance solutions for asset owners, hedge funds, and asset service providers. The global company employs more than 800 employees spread across 16 offices in 10 countries. With such a large staff, ISS is able to cover approximately 39,000 companies in 115 countries, delivering proxy research and recommendations. ISS is dedicated to enable the financial community to manage governance risk for the benefit of shareholders.
