Publications

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

online well before any regulatory filing disclosed his holdings in the company. These tactics may have been designed for drama, but the investment strategy and its scale are nothing unusual today. Activist shareholders and the hedge funds... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

03 Dec 2019
Cold Call Podcast

Why CalSTRS Chooses to Engage with the Gun Industry

Keywords: Financial Services

May 2014
Article

How to Outsmart Activist Investors

By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch

We offer opinions on how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

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Research Summary

The Value of Family Ownership, Control, and Management

In collaboration with Professor Raphael Amit of Wharton, Belén Villalonga is investigating how family ownership, control, and management affect firm value. Their forthcoming Journal of Financial... View Details

November 2011
Case

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Aldo Sesia and Amy Kaser

The case studies the decision of the security services corporation Brink's Company to spin-off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that felt that Brink's was... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Valuation; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Investment Activism

June 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

A Note on Activist Investors and the Tech Sector

By: David B. Yoffie and Eric Baldwin

This short note provides background and data on the growing role of corporate activists, especially in high-technology industries. View Details

Keywords: Governance; Activist Investors; Strategy; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry

07 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

The steep market drop in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis is being used as a laboratory to study the importance of companies investing in stakeholder relations with their employees, suppliers, and customers, and how those investments could be strategic resources... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

August 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

eBay vs. Carl Icahn, 2014

By: David B. Yoffie and Eric Baldwin

This case explores Carl Icahn's attack on eBay, starting in January 2014. The case examines how John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, should respond to Icahn's demand that eBay spin off PayPal and accept Icahn's two nominees to the board of directors. View Details

Keywords: Activist Shareholder; Activist Investors; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry

December 2016
Article

Through the Mud or in the Boardroom: Examining Activist Types and Their Strategies in Targeting Firms for Social Change

By: Charles Eesley, K. A. DeCelles and Michael Lenox

We examine the variety of activist groups and their tactics in demanding firms’ social change. While extant work does not usually distinguish among activist types or their variety of tactics, we show that different activists (e.g., social movement organizations vs.... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Investment Activism

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December 2011 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Carl Icahn and Clorox

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

This case outlines the takeover attempt by activist investor, Carl Icahn, for the Clorox Company. The board of the company repeatedly rejected Icahn's offers as inadequate. He made three bids over the course of three months. View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards

March 2017
Supplement

eBay vs. Carl Icahn, 2014: Interview with John Donahoe, eBay CEO 2008-2015

By: David B. Yoffie, Eric Baldwin and Tom Ryder

This video, a supplement to HBS Case No. 717-417, features an interview with former eBay CEO John Donahoe, providing his perspective on eBay's response to activist investor Carl Icahn's attack on eBay, which began in January 2014. After giving some of his own... View Details

Keywords: Activist Shareholder; Activist Investors; Technology; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry

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September 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Novell (B): Board of Directors Aftermath of Hedge Fund Attack

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; Governing and Advisory Boards; Decision Making

February 2018
Case

Whole Foods and JANA Partners

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

In 2017, JANA Partners decided to launch an activist campaign at struggling supermarket chain Whole Foods Market. The company had struggled for the past several years, and JANA thought the presence of new directors could help turn around its operations, while Whole... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Information Technology; Institutional Investing; Investment Activism; United States

November 2012
Teaching Note

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off (TN)

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The case this Teaching Note addresses studies the decision of the security services company Brink's Corporation to spin off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Valuation; Restructuring; Accounting; Business Strategy; Investment Activism; Service Industry

20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

01 Mar 2015
News

What Is Harvard’s Impact in the World?

who have founded firms and social enterprises. With the support of Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust, HBS professor Josh Lerner will survey the entire active alumni community for whom the University has email contact information. The... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

November 2006 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Kerr-McGee

By: Robin Greenwood and André Perold

Activist investors Carl Icahn and Barry Rosenstein acquire a stake in Oklahoma-based company Kerr-McGee. They demand two board seats and ask the company to make several operational and financial changes, including the repurchase of equity and divestiture of their... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Restructuring; Equity; Investment; Management; Governance Controls; Corporate Strategy; Chemical Industry; Energy Industry; United States