Activist investors can single handedly change the direction of a company, creating a ripple effect that often has significant consequences for competitors and the greater landscape of a given industry.
These investors acquire significant equity in organizations with the intention of shaking up their management and affecting serious change. Here are seven of today's top activist investors, listed in alphabetical order.
Carl Icahn
Founder, Icahn Enterprises
Mr. Icahn, 82, is one of the most notorious activist investors to come onto the scene in the 1980s as a "corporate raider." He famously took over Trans World Airlines in 1985, stripping the company of its assets and cementing his position as one of the nation's most ambitious activist investors. From 2003-2013, Mr. Icahn conducted 65 activist investment campaigns, which led to changes in 26 board seats. In 2016, he sold his significant stake in Apple due to concerns over its position in the Chinese market. He has invested in rideshare app Lyft while also becoming a vocal supporter of nutrition supplement Herbalife.
Dan Loeb
Founder and CEO, Third Point
Since founding Third Point Capital in 1995, Mr. Loeb, 56, has served on the board of five publicly traded companies: Ligand Pharmaceuticals; POGO Producing; Massey Energy; Yahoo!; and Sotheby's. Mr. Loeb has earned a reputation for being unafraid to publicly criticize executives. For example, in 2012, he revealed that then Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson did not earn the computer science degree he claimed to hold, leading Mr. Thompson to resign shortly thereafter. Mr. Loeb has earned success in recent years with investments in companies such as DowDuPont and Baxter International.
Keith Meister
Founder and Chief Investment Officer, Corvex Management
Mr. Meister, 45, is a protege of Mr. Icahn, but has blazed a trail entirely his own at Corvex Management. He has served on the boards of Yum! Brands, The Williams Companies, ADT, Ralcorp Holdings and Motorola/Motorola Mobility, among others. One of Mr. Meister's latest plays has been encouraging a sale Energen, of which he is a 10 percent shareholder, by naming four dissident director candidates to the company's nine-member board.
Larry Robbins
Founder and CEO, Glenview Capital Management
Mr. Robbins, 49, is notorious for his hot and cold streaks. He has gone from posting a 42.9 percent return in 2013 to an 18.1 percent loss in 2015 and a 14.8 percent return in the first half of 2017. He considers himself more of a "suggestivist" than activist investor, and over the years he has held significant shares of healthcare companies such as Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, Humana and McKesson. Two of Glenview's Tenet board members resigned in August 2017 in protest of the company's direction, which ultimately led to the resignation of Tenet CEO Trevor Fetter. In February, Mr. Robbins sent a letter to Tenet shareholders proposing a rule change that would allow shareholders to take board action by written consent without holding a meeting. Tenet agreed to change certain corporate bylaws in March in exchange for Glenview to withdraw its proposal and agree to vote for Tenet's board nominees at their upcoming shareholder meeting in May.
Paul Singer
Founder, Co-CEO, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Elliott Management
Mr. Singer, 73, founded Elliott Management in 1977 with $1.3 million and now manages $34 billion in assets. By 2013, Mr. Singer experienced 41 percent returns on activist investments while the S&P 500 returned 10.9 percent. Elliott Management holds positions in over 20 companies and famously engaged in a 15-year legal battle with Argentina after refusing to accept a loss on debt that the company held and the government was attempting to restructure. Mr. Singer went so far as to convince a court in Ghana to detain an Argentine naval vessel docked outside of Ghana. In 2016, the Argentine government finally settled with Elliott Management for $2.4 billion, four times the initial investment.
Jeff Smith
CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Starboard Value
Mr. Smith's activist investments lasted an average of 16.2 months as of 2013, by which time he had conducted 69 activist campaigns resulting in 35 board seats. While owning less than 10 percent of Darden Restaurants, Mr. Smith took effective control of the company and replaced its entire 12-member board of directors while assuming the role of chairman in 2014. The move led Mr. Smith, then 42, to be named "the most feared man in corporate America" by Fortune. Mr. Smith has also sat on the boards of Yahoo!, Quantum Corporation, Office Depot, Regis Corporation, Surmodics, Zoran, Actel, Kensey Nash, S1 and the Fresh Juice Company.
Nelson Peltz
Founding Partner and CEO, Trian Partners
Along with Mr. Icahn, Mr. Peltz, 75, is one of the most infamous "corporate raiders" who has been active for over three decades. Mr. Peltz is the non-executive chairman of Wendy's and director of The Procter & Gamble Company, Sysco Corporation, and The Madison Square Garden Company.