Billionaire Investor Bill Ackman Says ‘Crypto is Here to Stay’ (CoinTelegraph)
Billionaire investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman says he remains bullish about cryptocurrencies, despite the recent collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and the market turmoil that has followed it. In a Nov. 20 Twitter thread, the CEO and founder of hedge fund management firm Pershing Square Capital Management said he believes that “crypto is here to stay” despite recent challenges, though there’s a need to increase oversight and remove “fraudulent actors” in the space.
Trian’s Nelson Peltz Eyes Disney Board Seat and Opposes Bob Iger (Axios)
Activist hedge fund Trian Partners has been eyeing a stake in Disney for at least several months, according to a person familiar with the matter, building on a thesis that the company’s past dealmaking has dragged on its performance. Why it matters: The move by Trian into Disney’s stock — together with the fund’s plan to have its founding partner, Nelson Peltz, join the board — puts an added layer of pressure on the company to eventually make some type of strategic move (acquisition/divestiture) at a time when temperature levels are already high.
Hedge Fund Hestia Wants Pitney Bowes to Review Capital Spend, E-Commerce Segment (Reuters)
Hestia Capital Partners LP, which scored big gains on its GameStop (GME.N) bet, is pushing shipping and mailing company Pitney Bowes Inc (PBI.N) to re-evaluate its capital allocation and e-commerce strategy, sources familiar with the matter said. The hedge fund, which owns a 6.9% stake in the company that leases postal meters and pre-sorts mail for commercial clients, has held talks with Pitney Bowes and has suggested a possible sale of an underperforming segment, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
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Former AQR Quant Says Wall Street Isn’t Doing Portfolio Diversity Right (Bloomberg)
How many stocks does a portfolio need to mimic the market reliably? It’s become fashionable to say not too many: maybe as few as 30. New research claims that’s delusional. It’s work by Roni Israelov, a former principal at AQR Capital Management and now chief investment officer for Boston-based financial services firm NDVR. After examining risk and return in model portfolios of various sizes during the 25 years through 2019, Israelov and his colleague Yin Chen found that a fully diversified portfolio needs way more stocks than people think to avoid “unlucky outcomes.”
Steven Cohen’s $24B Hedge Fund Increased Stake In 2 Tech Dividend Payers, Opened 2 Energy Positions (Benzinga)
Steven Cohen is the owner of the New York Mets and is also the founder and hedge fund manager of Point72 Asset Management. Cohen purchased the Mets in 2020 for roughly $2.4 billion, which was a record-breaking sale price for an MLB team at the time. Cohen is also an avid art collector, owning pieces from celebrated artists such as Picasso and Andy Warhol worth over $1 billion. His hedge fund has a total portfolio value of over $24 billion, and a ten-year performance of returning 62.2%, although last year the fund was down roughly 20.4%, according to Stock Circle.
