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- All HBS Web
(150)
- News (19)
- Research (124)
- Multimedia (2)
- Faculty Publications (65)
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- September 2015 (Revised February 2016)
- Case
Novell (A): When an Activist Hedge Fund Came Calling on the Board
By: Richard L. Nolan
No corporation and its board of directors is immune to a disruptive shareholder activist attack. The Novell (A) and (B) cases take students through a shareholder activist attack and its aftermath—a saga that spanned 5 years. The cases outline the activist playbook in... View Details
Keywords: Investment Activism
Nolan, Richard L. "Novell (A): When an Activist Hedge Fund Came Calling on the Board." Harvard Business School Case 916-404, September 2015. (Revised February 2016.)
- February 2025
- Case
Align Partners and SM Entertainment: Korean Shareholder Activism Meets K-Pop (A)
By: Charles CY Wang and Billy Chan
For years, institutional investors had experienced very limited success in influencing the management of listed companies through shareholder activist campaigns in Korea. The common practice of circular ownership and public resentment toward foreign shareholder... View Details
- February 2025
- Supplement
Align Partners and SM Entertainment: Korean Shareholder Activism Meets K-Pop (B)
By: Charles CY Wang and Billy Chan
For years, institutional investors had experienced very limited success in influencing the management of listed companies through shareholder activist campaigns in Korea. The common practice of circular ownership and public resentment toward foreign shareholder... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised October 2023)
- Case
Central European Distribution Corporation: Hostile Takeover, Bankruptcy Makeover
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
In early 2013, Central European Distribution Corporation (CEDC), a large publicly traded producer and distributer of vodka and spirits in Eastern and Central Europe, has suffered significant declines in its financial performance, is at risk of defaulting on its debt,... View Details
Keywords: Hostile Takeover; Accounting Restatement; Activist Shareholder; Restructuring; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Statements; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Russia; Europe
Gilson, Stuart C., and Sarah L. Abbott. "Central European Distribution Corporation: Hostile Takeover, Bankruptcy Makeover." Harvard Business School Case 216-059, March 2016. (Revised October 2023.)
- October 2021
- Supplement
Engine No. 1: An Activist Hedge Fund Pursues Stakeholder Capitalism (B)
By: Mark Kramer
Engine Number 1's proxy fight succeeded in part because Exxon shareholders had lost money in the preceding years and because climate change was a high-profile issue. The B case raises the question of whether Engine No. 1's next target should be Facebook, where social... View Details
Keywords: Proxy Fight; Hedge Fund Activism; Social Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Climate Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Goals and Objectives
Kramer, Mark. "Engine No. 1: An Activist Hedge Fund Pursues Stakeholder Capitalism (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 222-038, October 2021.
- 05 Jul 2006
- Op-Ed
Corporate Governance Activists are Headed in the Wrong Direction
for the election of directors. Under these circumstances, shareholder democracy in the traditional sense has limited relevance. A majority-voting regime could lead to failed elections and other knotty legal complications. Beyond touting... View Details
Keywords: by Joseph Hinsey
- 16 Feb 2023
- HBS Case
ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?
The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether View Details
- December 2021 (Revised February 2022)
- Case
Bed Bath & Beyond: The New Strategy to Drive Shareholder Value
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel W. Fisher
At one time, Bed Bath & Beyond was one of the most successful specialty retailers in the United States—its growth and profit margins far exceeded both peer retailers in the home goods market as well as many other discount retailers. But in 2014, its stock price peaked,... View Details
Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Diversification; Corporate Governance; Leading Change; Performance Evaluation; Valuation; Investment Activism; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States
Esty, Benjamin C., and Daniel W. Fisher. "Bed Bath & Beyond: The New Strategy to Drive Shareholder Value." Harvard Business School Case 722-408, December 2021. (Revised February 2022.)
- March 2018
- Case
Sachem Head's Activism at Autodesk
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
In 2015, activist hedge fund Sachem Head Capital, led by founder Scott Ferguson, launched an activist campaign at computer aided design (CAD) software maker Autodesk. The activist campaign, waged mainly in private, was over Autodesk's lackluster financial performance,... View Details
Keywords: Shareholder Activism; Investing; Activist Investing; Technology; CEO Turnover; Hedge Fund Activism; Benchmarking; Corporate Governance; Information Technology; Investment Activism; Performance Improvement; Management Succession; United States
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Quinn Pitcher. "Sachem Head's Activism at Autodesk." Harvard Business School Case 118-086, March 2018.
- February 2013
- Article
Does Shareholder Proxy Access Improve Firm Value? Evidence from the Business Roundtable Challenge
By: Bo Becker, Guhan Subramanian and Daniel B. Bergstresser
We use the Business Roundtable's challenge to the SEC's 2010 proxy access rule as a natural experiment to measure the value of shareholder proxy access. We find that firms that would have been most vulnerable to proxy access, as measured by institutional ownership and... View Details
Becker, Bo, Guhan Subramanian, and Daniel B. Bergstresser. "Does Shareholder Proxy Access Improve Firm Value? Evidence from the Business Roundtable Challenge." Journal of Law & Economics 56, no. 1 (February 2013): 127–160.
- 11 Jan 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Does Shareholder Proxy Access Improve Firm Value? Evidence from the Business Roundtable Challenge
- November 2017
- Case
Third Point Paints a Target on Sotheby's
By: Lena G. Goldberg
When faced with the increasing accumulation of its stock by activist investors led by Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC and the activists’ stated objective to replace management and at least some Sotheby’s Board members, Sotheby’s, the world’s oldest auction house,... View Details
Keywords: Fiduciary Duties; Activists; Activist Investors; Rights Plan; Poison Pills; Takeover Defenses; Corporate Governance; Laws and Statutes; Lawsuits and Litigation; Ownership Stake; Value Creation; Crisis Management
Goldberg, Lena G. "Third Point Paints a Target on Sotheby's." Harvard Business School Case 318-086, November 2017.
- January 2023
- Teaching Note
The Opioid Settlement and Executive Pay at AmerisourceBergen
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
Teaching Note for HBS Case No 122-014. In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a Fortune 50 company in the drug distribution industry, agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices that critics alleged... View Details
Keywords: Opioids; Shareholder Activism; Investment Activism; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Distribution Industry; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; West Virginia; Tennessee; Ohio; Pennsylvania
- October 2021 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
The Opioid Settlement and Controversy Over CEO Pay at AmerisourceBergen
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni
In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a Fortune 50 company in the drug distribution industry, agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices that critics alleged had contributed to the nationwide... View Details
Keywords: Opioids; Drug; Investors; Shareholder Activism; Investment Activism; Executive Compensation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governance Compliance; Governance Controls; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Legal Liability; Distribution Industry; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; West Virginia; Tennessee; Ohio; Pennsylvania
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Li-Kuan Ni. "The Opioid Settlement and Controversy Over CEO Pay at AmerisourceBergen." Harvard Business School Case 122-014, October 2021. (Revised October 2022.)
- April 2023
- Case
Elliott Management: Capital Allocation in Biopharma
By: Amitabh Chandra, Paul Clancy and Lauren Gunasti
The case explores the intersection of capital allocation and shareholder activism in the biopharmaceutical industry. As many biopharma companies face looming patent expirations for key medicines, the case asks the question of whether investing in R&D and M&A is an... View Details
Keywords: Finance; Strategy; Capital Allocation; Biopharmaceutical Industry; Shareholder Activism; Investment Activism; Resource Allocation; Research and Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry
Chandra, Amitabh, Paul Clancy, and Lauren Gunasti. "Elliott Management: Capital Allocation in Biopharma." Harvard Business School Case 623-045, April 2023.
- July 2015 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Proxy Contest at DuPont
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague
On January 9, 2015, Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management launched a proxy fight for four out of the twelve seats on the DuPont board. The fund had previously published a public letter addressed to shareholders outlining its proposal to break the company into three... View Details
Keywords: Board Of Directors; Hedge Fund; Activist Investing; Activist Investors; Proxy Fight; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Activism; Chemical Industry; United States
Lorsch, Jay W., and Emily McTague. "Proxy Contest at DuPont." Harvard Business School Case 416-005, July 2015. (Revised March 2021.)
- January 2016 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
The Allergan Board Under Fire (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John C. Coates and David Lane
In 2014, the Allergan Inc. board of directors received a surprise takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals in alliance with hedge fund activist Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management. In the unprecedented arrangement between an acquirer and a hedge fund... View Details
Keywords: Allergan, Inc.; Valeant; Ackman; Pershing Square; Tender Offer; Activist Investors; Business Models; R＆D; Board Of Directors; Securities Litigation; Acquisition Strategy; Takeover Defenses; Hedge Funds; Shareholder Rights; Proxy Contest; Shareholder Special Meetings; Legal Issues In Contested Takeovers; Governing and Advisory Boards; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations; Pharmaceutical Industry
Paine, Lynn S., Suraj Srinivasan, John C. Coates, and David Lane. "The Allergan Board Under Fire (A)." Harvard Business School Case 316-010, January 2016. (Revised January 2019.)
- January 2016 (Revised January 2019)
- Supplement
The Allergan Board Under Fire (B)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John C. Coates and David Lane
In 2014, the Allergan Inc. board of directors received a surprise takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals in alliance with hedge fund activist Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management. In the unprecedented arrangement between an acquirer and a hedge fund... View Details
Keywords: Allergan, Inc.; Valeant; Ackman; Pershing Square; Tender Offer; Activist Investors; Business Models; R＆D; Board Of Directors; Securities Litigation; Acquisition Strategy; Takeover Defenses; Hedge Funds; Shareholder Rights; Proxy Contest; Shareholder Special Meetings; Legal Issues In Contested Takeovers; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Model; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Pharmaceutical Industry
Paine, Lynn S., Suraj Srinivasan, John C. Coates, and David Lane. "The Allergan Board Under Fire (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 316-029, January 2016. (Revised January 2019.)
- April 2016 (Revised June 2017)
- Teaching Note
Dollar General Bids for Family Dollar
By: Jonas Heese, Paula A. Price and Suraj Srinivasan
In spring 2015, Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling was looking ahead to retiring at year's end but worried about ensuring continued growth for the company he had built since 2008 into a market leader in the U.S. discount retail world. Dollar General operated over 11,500... View Details
- October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
Digging for Gold: Paulson & Co.'s Activism in the Gold Sector
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Jonah S. Goldberg
The case describes the efforts of hedge fund Paulson & Co to influence corporate governance and improve performance in the gold industry. In an innovative move, the hedge fund led the creation of the Shareholder Gold Council, a consortium of large investors in gold... View Details
Keywords: Board Of Directors; Hedge Funds; Shareholder Activism; Gold; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Funds; Investment Activism; Performance Improvement; Corporate Accountability; Mining Industry; Canada; United States
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Jonah S. Goldberg. "Digging for Gold: Paulson & Co.'s Activism in the Gold Sector." Harvard Business School Case 121-021, October 2020. (Revised November 2020.)