Tag Archives: Third Point

Computers

Yahoo confirms departure of media chief Mickie Rosen

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Mickie Rosen, head of global media at Yahoo, who was responsible for properties including Yahoo News, Sports and Finance, is leaving the company effective Sept. 1, Yahoo revealed Monday in a regulatory filing.

The change was announced just hours after Yahoo disclosed the resignation of three board members: Daniel Loeb, Harry Wilson and Michael Wolf, effective July 31, bringing the size of the company’s board down to seven. “The remaining directors are committed to revisiting the board’s size and composition,” Yahoo said in a statement. However, the two events are believed to be unrelated.

The board members’ resignations were disclosed alongside Yahoo’s announcement of its repurchase of 40 million shares of Yahoo common stock owned by hedge fund Third Point, at a purchase price of US$29.11 per share. Loeb is CEO at Third Point; the hedge fund had nominated Wilson and Wolf as Yahoo board members.

In a separate filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Yahoo said that Rosen, who had served as senior vice president, global media and commerce since 2011, would receive severance benefits specified in her existing agreement with the company. A Yahoo spokeswoman declined to comment further on Rosen’s departure or provide information about a replacement.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at PCWorld

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Highest Hedge Fund Managers Paid Well, as They Should Be

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By 24/7 Wall St.

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Hedge fund managers are more vilified for their pay packages, by the media and the public, than public company CEOs are. To some extent, the attacks are understandable, at least on the surface. Hedge fund managers can make hundreds of millions of dollars a year, while the highest paid CEOs make only tens of millions. The difference is that hedge fund managers are generally paid by very specific performance measures.

Hedge fund managers may be well paid, but the effects of poor performance can be extreme. It is not unusual for funds that have done poorly to lose a large portion of money that they manage, even to the extent that funds can be forced to close. That is the ultimate “pay for performance” penalty.

The latest version of a study done by Institutional Investor was released recently. Authors of the “Rich List” reported that several managers returned 20% to 30% improvements in the value of their funds. These included David Tepper of Appaloosa Management, Leon Cooperman of Omega Advisers and David Loeb of Third Point. Managers who have had longer term success also made the list. These include Ray Dailo of Bridgewater Associates and Steven Cohen of embattled SAC Capital. None are strangers to lists of top hedge fund managers.

Extraordinary high pay nearly always brings out the historical comparisons with the compensation of teachers, fireman, police and blue-collar workers. In these professions, at least, workers are part of a huge infrastructure of support, paid for by the public or shareholders. While that does not lower the value of their contributions to society or private enterprise, it does partially explain why employees supported by massive investment in the systems in which they operate are paid modestly.

The pay level of teachers has to be measured in part by the fact that school buildings and books are paid for by the public, and that many of those investments have been in place for years. For blue-collar workers at large manufacturing companies, the facilities in which they work are usually the product of billions of dollars in factories and production line investments made by their employers, often long before these people take their jobs. In all cases, the level of risk to the job security of public and large corporation workers is fairly small.

In the debate over the pay of investment managers, a single factor explains some of what is considered “obscene” pay. Underperformers get put out of business.

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire, Compensation

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From: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/15/highest-hedge-fund-managers-paid-well-as-they-should-be/

News, Politics, Government

Hedge Fund Giant Daniel Loeb Beats the Market with Yahoo, and Cheniere Energy

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By GuruFocus, Contributor In a difficult quarter for hedge funds, and rather pleasant one for the S&P 500, Daniel Loeb bested the market with a 13.3% in his Ultra Fund in the first three months of the year, according to CNBC. By comparison, the S&P returned 10%, and the average hedge fund eked out just 3.13%. Loeb, the leader of hedge fund Third Point well known for his stormy business shakeups in his activist investment targets and event-driven investment strategy, saw several points of his strategy blossom this year. …read more

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest

Business, Finance, Occupation & Industry

Here's What This 1,022% Gainer Has Been Buying

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By Selena Maranjian, The Motley Fool

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Every quarter, many money managers have to disclose what they’ve bought and sold, via “13F” filings. Their latest moves can shine a bright light on smart stock picks.

Today, let’s look at investing giant Daniel Loeb, founder of the Third Point LLC hedge fund. Loeb is a well known activist investor, famous for publicly airing his opinions about companies in which he invests, and not mincing words when he’s displeased. Loeb was instrumental in pointing out discrepancies in former Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson’s biography – paving the way for Yahoo!’s new CEO, Marissa Mayer.

His activity bears watching, because the guy seems to know a thing or two about investing. According to the folks at GuruFocus.com, over 15 recent years, Loeb racked up a cumulative gain of 1,022%, compared with just 124% for the S&P 500.

The company’s reportable stock portfolio totaled $5.5 billion in value as of December 31, 2012.

Interesting developments
So what does Third Point‘s latest quarterly 13F filing tell us? Here are a few interesting details.

The biggest new holdings are News Corp. and Tesoro. Other new holdings of interest include AbbVie and Herbalife . AbbVie was split off from Abbott Labs, and contains the pharmaceutical business, while Abbott focuses on medical, diagnostic, and nutritional products. AbbVie is saddled with a lot of debt, but it sports about $18 billion in annual revenue, more than $6 billion in free cash flow, and gobs of cash. Bears don’t like its being very dependent on its blockbuster drug Humira, which generates half its revenue. It does have other drugs, though, and more in its pipeline – and a 4.1% dividend yield.

Herbalife , while having the support of Loeb and Carl Icahn,  has some high-profile naysayers, such as David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital, and Bill Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management. The company recently reported robust results, with revenue in 2012 rising 18% over year-earlier levels. It sports an attractive 3.2% dividend yield, but those worried about red flags raised by critics (such as concerns about its multi-level-marketing strategy) might want to wait for the dust to settle.

Among holdings in which Third Point increased its stake was ARIAD Pharmaceuticals , which received FDA approval for its leukemia drug Iclusig – though its initial sales have been weak, so far. (The drug seems to be nearing approval in Europe, though, which bodes well.) ARIAD‘s bone-tumor drug ridaforolimus was rejected in Europe, but it might still prove effective against other cancers. The company has been spending heavily on research and development, and it needs some more success from its pipeline, as it consumes a lot of cash.

Third Point reduced its stake in companies such as Hillshire Brands , which has been trading near a 52-week high. The company, the result of a split-up of Sara Lee, describes itself as “a leader in meat-centric food solutions for the retail and foodservice markets,” and encompasses brands such as …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance