Hyundai Home Shopping Pressed by U.S. Investor to Give Back Cash (Bloomberg)
One of Hyundai Home Shopping Network Corp.’s largest investors is calling for the company to return about $365 million in cash to shareholders, realign executive compensation and split off some of its businesses. Dalton Investments, which said its accounts and its clients own a 2.5 percent stake, said in a letter Tuesday to Hyundai Home Shopping’s board that the company appears to be suffering from the so-called “Korea Discount,” leaving long-term minority shareholders with “mediocre returns.”
Barington Capital Wants L Brands to Spin Off Victoria’s Secret Brand (TheStreet)
Shares of L Brands (LB) were up 4.4% in trading Tuesday after activist hedge fund Barington Capital sent a letter urging the company’s leadership to stem its recent losses by spinning off its struggling Victoria’s Secret brand. The fund also suggested that L Brands take its more profitable Bath & Body Works brand public with an initial public offering.
solarseven/Shutterstock.com
Hedge Funds Lure Israeli Talent as Money Managers Do the Math (Bloomberg)
Israel’s small but fast-growing hedge-fund industry is getting a shot in the arm as staff from the nation’s investment houses move across in search of higher pay. Twenty-five funds launched last year as money managers left their old firms and brought clients with them, according to Tzur Management, a Tel Aviv-based firm that tracks the industry. Hedge funds have seen an influx of staff since 2016, when the government capped pay at finance companies such as banks and money managers.
Hedge Fund Manager Dan Niles Says He Went Short on Netflix Shares ‘Very, Very Recently’ (CNBC)
AlphaOne Capital Partners founding partner Dan Niles just started shorting Netflix. “Netflix was actually one of our best profit generators last year on the short side. A lot of this is timing… we weren’t short on Netflix on Dec. 24. We just put this on very, very recently,” Niles said on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” Shares of the media-streaming giant have roared back more than 50 percent from their 52-week low hit on Dec. 24, and have returned more than 31 percent year to date. But Netflix is faced with more competition this year as Comcast, Warner Bros., Apple and Disney are all slated to join the streaming war, Niles pointed out.
Hertz Stock Skids 12 percent After Activist Investor Carl Icahn Discloses a Cut in His Stake (CNBC)
Hertz Global Holdings stock plummeted Tuesday after longtime activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed he has trimmed his stake, selling off roughly five million shares. In a regulatory filing late Monday, Icahn reported ownership of 24.3 million shares of the rental car company, that represents 28.9 percent of its outstanding equity. That’s down from a previously reported stake of 29.3 million shares, or about 35 percent of Hertz. Hertz shares tumbled 12 percent Tuesday morning following news of Icahn’s move. Before today, Hertz stock was up more than 46 percent this year alone. That follows a 38 percent loss in 2018.
The American With the Toughest Job in Finance: Saving Deutsche Bank (The Wall Street Journal)
Matt Zames of Cerberus Capital has a colossal mess to help clean up at the German giant, which has posted a string of disappointing results, has been designated a ‘troubled institution’ by the Federal Reserve and faces pressure to merge with a rival. To the bank, Cerberus is at once a shareholder, paid adviser and customer.
Papa John’s Founder Schnatter to Exit Board in Settlement (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Papa John’s founder John Schnatter is leaving its board of directors as part of a settlement resolving a bitter dispute for control of the world’s third-largest pizza chain. The company said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday it would co-operate with Schnatter to find a mutually acceptable independent director who would not be affiliated with Schnatter or hedge fund investor Starboard Value LP, which owns a nearly 10 percent stake in the restaurant chain.
After Horrendous Investing Run, David Einhorn Exits Billionaire Club (Forbes)
For famed hedge fund short-seller David Einhorn, 2018 was a year that should have created a few big wins. After all, a decade after his legendary bet against investment bank Lehman Brothers, global stock markets erupted in chaos early in the year and closed near multiyear lows. Asset bubbles like a cryptocurrency mania Einhorn was tracking popped, and pressure mounted on his longtime foe, Tesla’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk, who was sanctioned by the Securities & Exchange Commission.
