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☆ Activist investor Dan Loeb builds passive stake in AMD
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

March 2 (Reuters) - Billionaire investor Daniel Loeb on Thursday told investors in his hedge fund Third Point that the firm has invested in microchip company Advanced Micro Devices(AMD.O), or AMD, a source familiar with the matter said. Third Point, which occasionally pursues an activist strategy and pushes for changes at companies, is not planning to press for changes at AMD and the investment can be considered a passive stake, the person familiar with the fund said. A spokesperson for Loeb declined to comment and AMD declined to comment. Shares of AMD were up about 2% in late afternoon trade. Reporting By Svea Herbst; editing by Peter HendersonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Third Point's Daniel Loeb takes a passive stake in AMD
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

In this videoShare Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThird Point's Daniel Loeb takes a passive stake in AMDCNBC's Scot Wapner joins 'The Exchange' to report on billionaire investor Daniel Loeb taking a passive stake in AMD.

☆ Activist hedge fund manager Dan Loeb takes a passive stake in AMD
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

The hedge fund manager took the bet when AMD shares struggled, according to sources. AMD shares have underperformed the rest of the sector over the last 12 months, down more than 30% as the PHLX Semiconductor Index declined 14%. Third Point's Dan Loeb has taken a passive stake in chipmaker AMD , sources told CNBC's Scott Wapner. AMD recently reported fourth quarter earnings that exceeded Wall Street expectations, but guided for a 10% decline in year-over-year sales in the current quarter. The semiconductor sector has been grappling with lower consumer demand for finished electronics and gluts of parts needed to make PCs and servers.

☆ Salesforce sufficiently acquiesces to angry mob
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Robert Cyran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The software developer revealed financial progress in its quarterly results, indicated it would throttle pricey deals and installed new board members, including a representative from ValueAct Capital. Co-Founder and Chief Executive Marc Benioff said on Wednesday that improving profitability is the company’s top priority. As evidence of the commitment, Salesforce said in January that it would lay off 10% of its workers. They are Mason Morfit, chief executive of ValueAct Capital; Sachin Mehra, Mastercard’s finance chief; and Arnold Donald, the former CEO of Carnival. Assertive investors Starboard Value, ValueAct Capital, and Inclusive Capital, have held talks with Salesforce, according to Reuters.

☆ Salesforce's strong results are impressive given activist pressure, Wall Street analysts say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Salesforce 's strong earnings were impressive, as it works toward improving profitability in the midst of ongoing activist pressure at the firm, according to Wall Street analysts. The results help Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff fend off pressure from activist investors such as Third Point and Elliott Management that have leaned on the firm. The new price target suggests shares can jump 43% from Wednesday's closing price of $167.35. JPMorgan's Mark Murphy also reiterated an overweight rating on the stock, and raised his price target to $230 from $200 — implying about 37% upside. Nevertheless, he maintained a neutral rating on the stock, with a $182 price target implying just 8% upside.

☆ Salesforce shares jump 13% on better-than-expected forecast
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Salesforce shares soared 16% in extended trading on Wednesday after the cloud software maker beat Wall Street estimates on profit and issued a better-than-expected forecast. Here's how the company did:Earnings: $1.68 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.36 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. $1.68 per share, adjusted, vs. $1.36 per share as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Revenue: $8.38 billion, vs. $7.99 billion as expected by analysts, according to Refinitiv. Salesforce sees adjusted earnings per share for the full 2024 fiscal year of $7.12 to $7.14 and revenue of $34.5 billion to $34.7 billion.

The nominating window closes March 14, and it is unclear if it is two or three nominees, Faber said on " Squawk on the Street ." The slate will likely include Jesse Cohn who runs the activist practice at Elliott, according to people familiar with the situation, but Faber said his position hasn't been confirmed. Activist investor Elliott Management has nominated a slate of directors for Salesforce 's board, sources told CNBC's David Faber on Wednesday. Elliott Management unveiled its multibillion-dollar investment in Salesforce in January, and the company said ValueAct Capital CEO Mason Morfit will join its board this month. Dan Loeb's hedge fund, Third Point, has also built a position in the company, CNBC confirmed in February.

☆ Salesforce results give CEO Benioff ‘breathing room’ from activists for now, ‘Fast Money’ trader Steve Grasso said
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Salesforce 's strong earnings results should give CEO Marc Benioff some relief from ongoing activist pressure at the cloud software firm. "This gives him definitive breathing room right now," Steve Grasso, CEO of Grasso Global, said Wednesday on CNBC's " Fast Money ." Salesforce shares surged 15% in extended trading Wednesday after the cloud software maker beat expectations on the top and bottom lines , and issued a better forecast than Wall Street was expecting. Salesforce in recent months has faced increasing activist pressure from firms such as Elliott Management, Third Point and Starboard Value. To be sure, the strong results may not help Benioff for long, the "Fast Money" traders said.

☆ Don't act on new activist push for board seats at Salesforce before earnings, Benioff reaction
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Hedge fund Elliott Management's decision to nominate candidates for Salesforce 's (CRM) board represents an escalation of the activist agitation at the Club holding. The Club generally believes activists' wishes for cost-cutting at Salesforce are positive, as long as Benioff remains at the helm. It's unclear whether Elliott is nominating two or three candidates for Salesforce's board, according to CNBC's David Faber, who broke the story Wednesday morning . Benioff is chairman of Salesforce's board. However, we don't want the activist pressure at Salesforce to cause Benioff to depart the company.

☆ Bath & Body Works Backs Board in Potential Proxy Battle
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Dean Seal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bath & Body Works Inc. backed the makeup of its refreshed board and rejected naming one of Dan Loeb’s protégés as a director ahead of a potential proxy fight with the hedge-fund manager’s Third Point LLC. The retailer on Monday said in a letter to shareholders that the looming proxy battle is based on misguided motivations and would be detrimental to shareholders. It added that it has taken “all reasonable steps to avoid a costly and distracting proxy contest” from Mr. Loeb, who said last week that his firm plans to nominate a candidate to the company’s board.

☆ Bath & Body Works calls investor Third Point's proxy contest "misguided"
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI.N) said on Monday investor Third Point's potential proxy contest is misguided and is a result of the specialty retailer not willing to appoint the hedge fund's former co-chief investment officer to its board. Bath & Body Works said in the last twelve months the board has appointed four highly qualified directors, of which Lucy Brady, a senior executive at Conagra Brands (CAG.N), was proposed by Third Point. In a letter to its shareholders, the company said the potential proxy contest was due to the board's unwillingness to appoint Loeb's former partner Munib Islam to the board. Islam, who played a key role in Third Point's activist campaigns, left the firm in 2020 and is now a senior executive at LTS One, an investment partnership. While it has taken "reasonable" steps to avoid a proxy fight, Bath & Body Works said it is "disappointing and unfortunate" that it will have to spend more time on this despite efforts to engage productively with the hedge fund.

☆ Third Point’s Dan Loeb pens a pointed letter to Bath & Body Works – What could happen next
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Kenneth Squire | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

As an example, in April 2019, ABB chairman Peter Voser stepped in as interim CEO of ABB. She would receive this $18 million regardless of how long she served as interim CEO. Ultimately, she served as interim CEO for a full seven months for the $18 million. The Nash-led BBWI board is now doing whatever it can to protect itself from having a shareholder representative on the board. If this goes the distance, we believe Third Point will show the BBWI board how powerful a good argument is.

☆ Cramer sees a 'good chance' Salesforce's Benioff will soon announce succession plans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Jim Cramer suggested Saturday that plans for a leadership change at Club holding Salesforce (CRM) — helmed by co-founder Marc Benioff for more than two decades — may be disclosed in the near future. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) YTD performance In early January, Salesforce announced a cost-cutting plan that included layoffs and office space reductions — moves that Jim has said were pushed for by Starboard . While Benioff has said he's "never leaving" Salesforce , the company has twice elevated an executive to the role of co-CEO. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Marc Benioff, founder, chairman and CEO of enterprise cloud computing company Salesforce.

☆ Starboard Value wants Salesforce to hit over 30% profit margins, closer to Oracle and Microsoft. Salesforce is working on it, leaked draft of a planning document shows.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Ellen Thomas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Activist investor Starboard Values wants Salesforce to grow its adjusted operating margins above 30%. In September, Salesforce announced a goal of 25% adjusted operating margins by fiscal 2026, up from a target of 20% for fiscal 2023. Starboard found Salesforce's mix of operating margins and revenue growth averaged much lower than its peers, including Microsoft and Oracle. Starboard showed Oracle at a 10.7% increase in revenue with adjusted operating margins of 43.3% for its current fiscal year. It showed Microsoft's at a 10.9% increase in revenue and 46.6% increase in operating margins, Starboard said.

☆ Third Point's Loeb plans proxy contest at Bath & Body Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Bath & Body Works said in a statement late on Wednesday, "The Board strongly disagrees with the views expressed in Third Point's letter." However, it said it would review and consider Third Point's proposed board nominations. Third Point followed through and announced its board challenge hours after Bath & Body Works on Tuesday said that it was adding a second new board member, possibly to assuage the hedge fund's criticisms. Bath & Body Works is valued at roughly $10 billion. This marks Third Point's first proxy fight since 2018 when it challenged Campbell Soup Co.

☆ Third Point to Launch Proxy Fight at Bath & Body Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Laura Cooper | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Bath & Body Works benefited from increased consumer spending during the pandemic, but lately its growth has slowed. Dan Loeb ’s Third Point LLC plans to launch a proxy fight against Bath & Body Works Inc. to address what the activist investor says is excessive executive pay and lagging financial performance at the soap and fragrance maker. Third Point, which first disclosed a stake of more than 6% in Bath & Body Works in December, plans to nominate candidates to the company’s board including at least one shareholder representative, according to people familiar with the matter. The activist hasn’t yet determined which directors it will aim to replace, at the annual meeting expected this spring.

☆ Third Point announces proxy contest at Bath & Body Works in letter to board
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Third Point told Bath & Body Works on Wednesday that it plans to launch a proxy contest and that the company's recent board refresh does not adequately address the hedge fund's concerns about governance, capital allocation and pay. "As fiduciaries, we have no choice but to put forth qualified director candidates and give our fellow shareholders the opportunity to elect directors who can hold the stewards of their capital responsible for the decisions they make," Third Point founder Daniel Loeb wrote in a letter to the company's board. Reporting by Svea Herbst-BaylissOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Third Point to launch proxy fight against Bath & Body Works - WSJ
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Air New Zealand swings to first-half profit on soaring travel demand, article with imageBusiness category · February 22, 2023 · 8:17 PM UTC · undefined ago · undefined agoAir New Zealand Ltd swung to a first-half profit for the first time in three years on Thursday, helped by strong travel demand following the reopening of domestic and international borders, and strong cargo revenues which were above pre-COVID levels.

☆ Blackstone's Ike leaves to start new investment firm
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Chibuike Oguh | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Melvin Ike, a managing director in Blackstone Inc's (BX.N) tactical opportunities group, has resigned to start his own investment firm, the private equity firm told Reuters. Ike's resignation was announced during a meeting of Blackstone's tactical opportunities fund investors held last week in New York, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. Ike's transactions for Blackstone's tactical opportunities unit include the sale of a majority stake in Wisconsin-based home improvement lender Aqua Finance for $1 billion to Apollo Global Management (APO.N) in 2021. He also led Blackstone's acquisition of a majority stake in collectibles authentication firm Certified Collectibles Group as well as the minority investments in digital marketing firm Recurrent Ventures and Cybersecurity firm Geocomply. Blackstone's tactical opportunities unit, which is run by David Blitzer, invests in assets that typically fall outside the scope of the firm's other funds, from timber and mines to oil tankers and satellites.

☆ Third Point's Dan Loeb initiates proxy fight against Bath & Body Works
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailThird Point's Dan Loeb initiates proxy fight against Bath & Body WorksKen Squire, 13D Monitor Founder and President, joins 'Closing Bell' to discuss Dan Loeb, Third Point CEO, initiating a proxy fight against Bath & Body Works, the reasons behind the fight and the atmosphere for activist investors.

☆ Bath & Body Works adds second new director amid pressure from Third Point
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Svea Herbst-Bayliss | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Last week Bath & Body Works added Lucy Brady, a senior executive at Conagra Brands (CAG.N) and consumer products veteran to the board, expanding the group to 11 from 10 members. Voskuil and Brady's appointments come weeks after Third Point, which owns a 6% stake in the company, hinted it might push for board seats. In December Third Point announced its stake in a regulatoryfiling and criticized the company's high costs, includinggenerous executive pay. Bath & Body Works, best known for selling soaps, candles andlotions, is valued at $10 billion. Third Point spent an average of $38.16 per share on thestock which is now trading at $40.76.

☆ Here's how Wall Street pros traded 13 Club stocks last quarter, including Salesforce and Disney
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Kevin Stankiewicz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Big-name investors and hedge funds made moves in Club holdings Disney (DIS), Nvidia (NVDA) and TJX Companies (TJX) in the fourth quarter. Starboard's position stood at 3.03 million shares — valued at $401.22 million — at the end of the fourth quarter, according to the firm's 13F. Inclusive's 1.63 million shares were worth $216.77 million and ValueAct's 560,221 shares carried a market value of $74.28 million. CRM YTD mountain Salesforce (CRM) YTD performance In addition to Salesforce, a number of other Club holdings appeared in hedge funds' quarterly disclosures. Some of the activists swarming at Salesforce have positions in other Club holdings and made changes to them during the fourth quarter.

☆ Salesforce engineers are about to be hit with new performance metrics, while some salespeople are being pressured to quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Ellen Thomas | Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Some Salesforce employees have been offered a "Prompt Exit Package" instead of a layoff, with less severance. Employees say the company is ratcheting up performance expectations as activist investors invade. "The company is pushing hard for productivity tracking and metrics on all facets," one employee told Insider. Salesforce cut a few hundred salespeople in November, a person familiar with the matter told Insider, and the company told Insider the cuts were made for "accountability," implying that performance was a consideration. In some cases, the company has presented employees with PEP offers in the same week it has executed mass layoffs, employees told Insider.

☆ Wall St dips as Treasury yields rise after auction
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Carolina Mandl | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"With Treasury yields higher, it becomes a legitimate alternative to equities," said Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments. Weighing on the S&P 500 (.SPX) and Nasdaq (.IXIC) indexes, Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) extended losses from the previous session to fall 4.7%. All 11 S&P 500 sectors posted losses. More than half of the S&P 500 companies have reported quarterly earnings so far, and 69% of them have beaten estimates, according to Refinitiv data. The S&P 500 posted 15 new 52-week highs and one new low; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 75 new highs and 57 new lows.

☆ Does anyone want to stay in investment banking these days?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Banker salaries will get you in first class, but the potential total comp at PE firms and hedge funds will get you flying private. PE firms have been known to grind through people, but nothing quite compares to life at an investment bank. An investment bank's analyst program remains the go-to route to get your foot in the door on the Street. Click here to read more about salaries being offered by top PE firms to 2024 associates. All kidding aside, this deep dive by ProPublica is a fascinating look into how investment firms are helping the ultrarich save on taxes.

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