Activist seeks ‘bright young guys’ to spearhead activism campaigns
Activist investor Carl Icahn aims to seed activist investors to wage proxy fights and lobby for better governance on corporate boards.
‘I’m looking into doing that,’ the billionaire said in an interview on CNBC when asked if he was planning to give investors money to encourage more activism. ‘I think activism is very important to this country.
‘There are bright young guys who need backing for that and I’m going to start looking to get a few of [them] in and seed them and see how they do. Maybe give them some advice on it, maybe not, and let them do the work. I would like to see more of this done – and done by real good guys.’
Speaking on the sidelines of the Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York, Icahn said he wasn’t sure how much cash he would give to other potential activist investors but said the sum would pale in comparison to the record amounts of cash floating around the market and company stockpiles.
‘Even if we invested $1 bn, or $100 mn, we have so much capital now that it would be extremely immaterial,’ Icahn said. ‘It’s very hard to break into the business of activism. You have to have staying power. You have to have a fairly good bankroll.’
At another presentation at the summit, activist investor Jeff Ubben, who heads the ValueAct Capital hedge fund, criticized what he called ‘excessive’ pay for some tech CEOs and called for improvements in corporate governance.
JPMorgan Chase chairman ‘Jamie Dimon gets hauled over the coals in New York for his $20 mn, but [Google chairman] Eric Schmidt presides over four board meetings and gets paid $100 mn,’ Ubben said in a presentation, according to a report by the Financial Times.
