Much ink was spilled, on these pages and countless others, discussing Yahoo’s plan to spinoff its stakes in Alibaba(BABA) and Yahoo! Japan as an independent company. For much of 2015, the company planned to spin off this stake, together with a Yahoo’s small business unit as Aabaco Holdings. The small business unit was included to maintain the tax… Read More »
When we last checked in on Dan Loeb’s Third Point it was mid 2017 and the fund was cruising while also singing the praises of Baxter International (BAX). Unfortunately, 2018 was a rough year for the firm and performance, at -11.3%, lagged the overall S&P 500. Market Folly shares the fund’s recent Q4 mea culpa letter which offers… Read More »
Over 18 months since announcing plans to merge, Dow Chemical(DOW) and E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co.(DD) will complete their merger on August 31. The new company will be named DowDuPont and will trade under the new DWDP ticker. DowDuPont will be included in both the S&P 100 and S&P 500, as were both predecessor companies. Don’t… Read More »
Let’s kickoff the week with a few links: Yet Another Value Blog takes a look at the Liberty Braves Group (BATRA/BATRK) and sees some nice upside potential. Apparently, he also notes, so does Gabelli. It’s a good piece and among other things, includes a long section (which I tend to agree with) on why sports teams are undervalued. In… Read More »
The YUM Brands (YUM) spinoff story continues to develop and it feels like a spin is becoming more a matter of ‘when’ vs. ‘if’. Breakup speculation has been rife for quite some time, but the recent ‘catalyst’ of activist funds Corvex Capital and Third Point taking sizable stakes seems to have kicked the frenzy into a new gear. Apparently… Read More »
YUM! Brands (YUM) has been getting a lot of attention recently and it seems lots of people have ideas on how the company can deliver more shareholder value. Earlier this year, Janney analyst Mark Kalikowsky argued for setting Taco Bell free in a bid to unlock value, given Taco Bell’s purely North American exposure. It hasn’t just been the sell side… Read More »
Sorry, Mr. Loeb, it looks like it’s only going to be $219 per share for Amgen (AMGN). The biotech leader hosted a business update session yesterday and CEO Robert Bradway wasted no time in addressing the proverbial 800lb gorilla in the room. Within his opening remarks, Mr. Bradway noted that although they understood the pressure to break up, the company… Read More »
Speculation began almost immediately after Dan Loeb’s Third Point impressively raised $2.5b in just two weeks this summer. Who would the new targets be? Existing investments? Foreign companies? One new mark was just identified in the fund’s most recent quarterly letter as Amgen (AMGN), the $100b+ market cap biotech giant. The letter, which is worth a read in its entirety, suggests that… Read More »
The energy and E&P business has been no stranger to spinoffs and over the past few years numerous companies have pursued this strategy to unlock shareholder value. So it was no big surprise when in February Williams Companies (WMB) announced plans to split itself into two. To be fair, another reason the announcement wasn’t much of a surprise… Read More »