Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Seth Klarman, John Paulson, Ray Dalio, Elliott Management, Starboard Value, HD Supply Holdings Inc (HDS), CBAK Energy Technology Inc (CBAT), and a lot More

Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Klarman Issues Dire Warning on Global Economy (CNBC)
Seth Klarman, a hedge fund billionaire some call the next Warren Buffett, wrote a sobering letter warning his investors of the economic impact of global tension, rising debt and the pervasive political divide. “It can’t be business as usual amid constant protests, riots, shutdowns and escalating social tensions,” Klarman wrote in the annual letter to investors, according to a New York Times column filed by CNBC “Squawk Box” co-anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Here’s How John Paulson Is Positioning His Celgene/Bristol Trade (Bloomberg)
Billionaire John Paulson sees a 10 percent to 20 percent chance that Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. receives a takeover bid and he’s positioning his Celgene Corp. trade based on that risk, he said in an interview on Mike Samuels’ “According to Sources” podcast. Bristol-Myers “is vulnerable and it has an attractive pipeline to several potential acquirers,” Paulson said in the podcast released Monday. “It’s a reasonable probability,” he said. “You have to be prepared someone may show up. It’s an attractive spread, but you can’t take that big a position.”

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Starboard, Elliott Tell eBay to Sell Assets, Restructure (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Hedge funds Elliott Management and Starboard Value have taken stakes in eBay Inc (EBAY.O) and urged changes at the e-commerce platform including the sale of some of its businesses, which could release billions of dollars in capital. In a letter sent to the company’s board, Elliott asked eBay to hive off ticket-sales franchise StubHub and eBay Classifieds Group from its core marketplace as part of a five-point plan to double the company’s value.

Ray Dalio, Founder of the World’s Biggest Hedge Fund, Sees a ‘Significant Risk’ of a Possible US Recession in 2020 (CNBC)
Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s biggest hedge fund, warned on Tuesday of a “significant risk” of a U.S. recession in 2020. “It’s going to be globally a slow up. It’s not just the United States; it’s Europe; and it’s China and Japan,” the billionaire investment titan said Tuesday in an interview on CNBC″s “Squawk Box.” “Where we are in the later [economic] cycle and the inability of central banks to ease as much, that’s the cauldron that will define 2019 and 2020,” said Dalio, co-CIO and co-chairman of Bridgewater Associates.