Who goes there? hankering, gross, mystical, nude,
How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?
What is a man anyhow? what am I? what are you?
All I mark as my own you shall offset it with your own,
Else it were time lost listening to me…
- Walt Whitman
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Joe Nocera writes at the New York Times about the Target / Pershing Square proxy contest that ended yesterday on Thursday:
You can’t help but suspect that Mr. Ackman’s subsequent proxy fight, one of the most expensive ever mounted, was an act of pique. His dedicated Target fund had lost, according to numerous reports, some 90 percent of its value, largely because of his own bit of financial engineering: he owned options that accelerated his losses as the stock sank. His real estate idea had been rebuffed by management. (They turned him down in part because they feared a ratings downgrade.) He had asked to go on the board and been turned down for that as well. And though the stock was down, he could hardly argue that Target was poorly run, because it isn’t. He was like a spoiled child unaccustomed to being told “no.”
Joe’s column is the best I’ve seen on the issue yet.
Disclosures: I am an employee of Target and own stock in the corporation.
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