Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA), Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), BP plc (ADR) (NYSE:BP)
Klarman’s Baupost Sells News Corp., Adds to BP, AIG Stake (Bloomberg)
Buffett Loves International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), The Coca-Cola Company (KO), and The Procter & Gamble Company (PG) (Insider Monkey)
Warren Buffett always said that the minimum holding period for a stock should be “forever.” He looks for companies that do not trade much above their book value and keeps them as long as they keep delivering value. Three stocks that made the grade, and remain part of Buffett’s widely diversified portfolio today, are The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) and The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG).
Hedge Fund Proposes Revamped Hess Board (Wall Street Journal)
In yet another twist in its convoluted proxy battle with Hess Corp. (NYSE:HES), Elliott Management Corp. on Tuesday proposed refashioning the company’s board to include both its slate of five board nominees and their Hess-backed rivals. The move by the dissident hedge fund, which owns about 4.5% of Hess’s shares, came a day after the international oil company extended an olive branch, proposing to add two of Elliott’s nominees to the board if all five of management’s nominees were elected at a coming shareholder meeting Thursday. Elliott called Hess’s latest move a publicity stunt, but said it was open to dialogue.
Loeb Takes Activism Abroad With Sony Stake in Japan Wager (Bloomberg)
Dan Loeb, the hedge-fund manager who successfully pushed for an executive shakeup at Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), is taking his activism overseas for the first time with a $1.1 billion stake in Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), seeking change in a country where few U.S. investors have succeeded with that approach. Loeb, whose event-driven fund has returned an annual average of 18 percent since he started his firm out of another manager’s weight room almost two decades ago, chose Sony as part of a wager that Japan’s stocks will gain as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe uses stimulus spending and aggressive monetary easing to spur growth.
Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller Bought News Corp (NWSA), Sold Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) During Q1 (Insider Monkey)
Stanley Druckenmiller pulled double duty for over a decade, managing a portfolio for George Soros and running Duquesne Capital. His success as an investor has resulted in a net worth of nearly $3 billion. He has retired as a fund manager but still manages his personal wealth in a family office, and is required to file quarterly 13Fs with the SEC.
Credit: News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA)
Hedge funds target mutual fund market (Financial Times)
The next source of growth for the hedge fund industry are the widows and orphans of the mutual fund market, according to Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), which predicts that retail assets will more than triple to $940bn during the next four years, from $305bn at the end of 2012. The trend is a convergence of two themes: traditional asset managers looking for…
