Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Bill Ackman, Trian Fund Management, Paul Singer, vTv Therapeutics Inc (VTVT), BioDelivery Sciences International, Inc. (BDSI), CarGurus Inc (CARG), and More

Starbucks Spikes After Hedge-Fund Billionaire Bill Ackman Discloses a Stake in the Company (Business Insider)
Starbucks shares jumped by as much as 5% Tuesday on news that the hedge-fund billionaire Bill Ackman had bought a stake in the coffee retailer. According to CNBC’s Leslie Picker, Ackman disclosed the stake while presenting at the Grant’s Fall 2018 Conference in New York. He had previously announced a position worth about $800 million, or 10% of his hedge fund’s portfolio, in an undisclosed company in August.

Papa John’s Soars on Report Wendy’s Investor Trian Interested in Buying Embattled Pizza Chain (CNBC)
Shares of Papa John’s soared Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that activist hedge fund Trian Fund Management, which has a 13 percent stake in Wendy’s, was considering a takeover bid for the embattled pizza chain. Papa John’s rose as much as 8.6 percent in morning trading Tuesday. The stock originally surged 16 percent in extended trading after the news broke Monday evening. The company’s been exploring a sale and struggling to recover from its very messy public battle with founder and former Chairman and CEO John Schnatter.

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Paul Singer May Or May Not Be Becoming A Nicer Person (DealBreaker)
Paul Singer has certainly been a busy boy this year. The busiest, if we’re counting by number of activist campaigns embarked upon. And at times, he’s very much sounded like his old self, as when telling people that Michael Dell’s plan to retake his company public in some way, shape or form is “pretty awful,” or in his epic takedown of all things cryptocurrent. But longtime Singerologists, such as myself, have noticed that the great man and his hedge fund, Elliott Management, has become somewhat less prone to immediately resorting to the cutting barb or army of holograms, and more likely to use words like “encouraging” and “world class,” the latter specifically about a brand that was setting setting people’s genitals on fire.

Tourbillion Capital Follows Highfields, Criterion in Hedge Fund Closures (CNBC)
CNBC’s Leslie Picker reports that Tourbillion founder Jason Karp is shutting down the hedge fund, the third fund to close in less than a week.