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The Vendetta Continues: Ackman's Latest Herbalife Deathwish And Other Observations - The Full Q3 Letter
For those who care what Bill Ackman has been thinking and doing lately, aside from colluding with and piggybacking on desperate for M&A "strategics" to go activist, and buying a boatload of calls in advance of announcing a material, market-moving position and in the process generating a 43.4% YTD return while the SEC sits on its hands doing nothing and proving once again the market is a rigged playground catering to billionaires, here is his full Q3 letter.
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What an ethical guy, hence the concern for Herbalife "customers"
What about the LA Galaxy?
His net return since inception is only an absolute smidgen over the S&P and Russell.
Thank goodness for the bolstered returns from the insider trading eh?
Where the fuck is Jon Corzine?!??!
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/08/07/embattled-jon-corzine-to-host-ready-for-hillary-hamptons-fundraiser/
How come we never here how he made bank on CP.
Bill started out as a good guy. A bit spergy, but then again you need to be a Jim Parsons Green Lantern nut to be enjoying this stuff daily. Bill, like many of his vintage saw all the guys in the 00's blow up, and decided not to become a tool (talk his book) but passive invest while lobbying his worst positions to change. Bill made a great run at being the guy who did alot of work, held good parties, and tried to be a good charity circuit and family guy. He was just the nice guy who did good research and was growing his book normally. Alot of guys like George and some other guys gave him money, because he was bright and didn't think like he owned the world. And most of what he said was right, esp. about his turf of real estate, which was the buiz. he grew up in.
Bill then got this grand idea that somehow activism was also syn. of harassment. Maybe that was because he saw how his friend Dan made great coin on writing, or how Dave was writing as an annon. on stock boards pumping his positions, but Bill started getting a bit ..... agressive. Many got upstet at the "new Bill" but decided that it wasn't worth talking down his ambitions. So since nobody ever said "no" to Bill, he got away with growing more assertive, including stalking executives.
A few years pass, and Bill starts to take credit for his success and stops listening to mentors or players. So some folks take their cash out. Rather than realize he's distancing himself from his reputation, Bill decides to double down on his abusive and agressive method. In the period, he starts to run with a crowd of more celeberity types vs. the normal crew of investment managers & executives. Its fun and all to have a good buddy at Weinstein, but thinking of hiring your own talent agent..... is a bit much.
So this Rat, like many, decided he was not a good person to hang with. Bill never got the memo and still comes out to things. Its sad because the Bill of 2003 would likely suspect and never invest in the Bill of 2014. Its very sad, which is why Bill still does his thing, and people assume Bill will grow out of this phase. Also its why most guys like Carl... or others rarely are seen with this Bill.
Bill, and his letter are a good reflection on how perverse both celeberity investors have become, and how it mirrors the old "chainsaw al" type activism of the more showboating days of the 1970's,..... when industrial stagflation led to more questionable value add and investor agendas.
Yes, CP, Hughes.... were good investments. But his record is pretty sketchy, and growing more sketchy as it goes. His current agenda with Allergan-lite targets assume on one flimsy argument that if two guys come up with the same idea, then they are free to invest at seperate times, even if they are colluding to invest, because neither knows when the other will actually drop the cash on the company. Like chainsaw al, all it takes is one guy to recognize the activist is front running a leverage-roll up vehicle, and then both the conglomerate and the activist will buckle. So tracking poor-Bill's descent into darkness, and the excess of the worst 1970's conglomerate scandals is a key editorial of ZH, and something which should be tracked.
Because if nobody has the balls to tell Bill to his face this, at least ZH can continue to lampoon him/snark him out. He's either going to find Jesus and go passive, or end up in home-jail like Milkin.
TLDR: Dont be Bill. Be a better Bill.
nice background info, thx Mr rat
Though to be honest, I don't actually think Bill's position on herballife is wrong(it is a ponzi, but a well-propped up ponzi)
guess that's why I don't have as much disdain for Ackerman as other activists, because I don't think his calls are bad or too far off the mark, it's only the methods of execution that's questionable.
http://kdvr.com/2014/11/25/man-arrested-for-pointing-banana-at-deputies-...
Bananas yo!
To the dispensary!
Bunch wrote that “based on training and experience, I have seen handguns in many shapes and colors and perceived this to be a handgun.”
The only thing that is truly deadly here, is the stupidity of the arresting officers...and I use the term officers lightly....MEOW!
I have one retired cop friend. We party when camping. He said if you did something stupid he would be the best one to help you out, but if you were trying to be an asshole he would show you no mercy, at all.
Just saying, don't fuck with the gestopo if your papers are not in order.
My nephew is a lying little stealing bitch. Guess what? He's a cop now. Though he is more suited to move into politics.
It was an assualt banana.....
It had an adjustable butt-stock, pistol grip, bayonet lug, and barrel shroud(Most menacing feature of an assault rifle)?
And a banana clip.....
I knew Monty Python's lesson on defending myself against someone attacking me with fresh fruit would come in handy someday.
Actually what happened is this: The gun and badge thugs are incentivized, career wise, to make "gun arrests." The various citadels, departments, as well via federal fiat.
Not only do I know this from my reading, but a friend of mine is a gun and badge thug, he doesn't like the profession much either, and he reports same. He actually told me that the thugs in his citadel, and the two surrounding ones, actually take guns no matter their "legality." Since there is no repercussions for the theft, they take the gun and leave it up to the citizen to pay and fight to get it back.
The thugs that arrested the man for the banana were punishing him and boosting them and their citadel's "gun arrest" stats.
Money and power.
An American, not US subject.
Does it matter the IQ of a mugger? Then it doesn't matter the IQ of a governmnet thief. They both have your wallet and life in the balance.
That's one long @ss run on sentence there buddy...!
Sorry he didn't keep it to your standard of "See Dick Run".
Or Barney Franks childrens book of "ME want to see dick"
HerpesLife
Oh man Tyler, that is one great introductory sentence (paragraph).
SEC sitting on their hands with the three mystic apes on their lap ("see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil").
Justice is deaf, dumb, and blind - and has no arms.
Oh man Tyler, that is one great introductory sentence (paragraph).
Agreed EBW.....RELENTLESS !
TheStreet.com Made A Roast Of Bill Ackman And Screened It To Hundreds Of Journalists
Ackman is a giant fidouchebag! Let's lynch him!
He's the Captain Ahab of Wall Street.
So, after deduction of fees,
The PSH investor got the same return as SPY.
I'll be the creepiest activist investor ever after I become a billionaire (via magic). I'll tweet saying "I finger my butthole as I anticipate the collapse of Herbalife" and it would be a picture of my finger with some chocolate frosting on it.