Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(480)
- Faculty Publications (128)
- August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
- Case
Kmart and ESL Investments (A)
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott
A major bankrupt retailer is poised to emerge from Chapter 11. Two activist hedge funds ("vulture investors") will own over 50% of reorganized Kmart's common stock, based on prior investments in Kmart's debt claims, and an infusion of new equity financing. The Chapter... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised September 2008)
- Case
Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A)
By: Fabrizio Ferri, V.G. Narayanan and James Weber
Two activist investors, one a founder and one a hedge-fund manager, seek to improve board oversight at a chain restaurant company. Prestley Blake founded Friendly Ice Cream in 1935 with his brother, and the two created a chain of full-service restaurants. In 1979 they... View Details
- April 2008 (Revised August 2008)
- Supplement
Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (B)
By: V.G. Narayanan, Fabrizio Ferri and James Weber
This case study briefly describes the outcome of the Shareholder Activists at Friendly Ice Cream (A) case. View Details
- January 2008 (Revised July 2008)
- Case
Opportunity Partners
By: Robin Greenwood and James Quinn
Philip Goldstein, the principal in a growing hedge fund and prominent activist investor, has taken a position in a Mexico-based closed-end fund. Following a hard-fought proxy contest in which he advocated for management to eliminate the fund's substantial discount,... View Details
- January 2008
- Article
When (Not) to Listen to Activist Investors
By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor
Keywords: Investment
- November 2007 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
Control Data Corporation and the Urban Crisis
By: Tom Nicholas and Laura Gaie Singleton
Control Data Corporation is considering its response to the assassination of renowned civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Four months prior, William Norris, president of the Minneapolis-based computer firm had already committed to building a plant in a low-income... View Details
- November 2007
- Case
AXA MONY
By: Lucy White and Andre F. Perold
AXA's friendly bid for MONY is contested by activist hedge funds suspicious of management's generous change in control contracts. Votes trade after the record date. AXA financed the bid using an unusual conditionally convertible bond which may have affected incentives... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
- Case
Clear Channel 2006
By: Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson
The Board of Directors of Clear Channel Communications, a radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising company, has to respond to a revised proposal from two private equity firms to take the company private. In November of 2006, the Board had unanimously approved an... View Details
- October 2007 (Revised March 2009)
- Case
Advanced Energy: Programs for Energy Conservation
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Brooke Barton
Describes the dilemma facing Advanced Energy (AE), a $6 million nonprofit engaged in energy conservation in North Carolina. Most of the money for its programs comes from a Public Benefits Fund (PBF) enacted by the state legislature. With renewed effort by activists in... View Details
- 20 Jul 2007
- Keynote Speech
The New Activist Investors: Private Equity, Hedge Funds and Takeovers
By: W. Carl Kester
- 2007
- Working Paper
Hedge Fund Investor Activism and Takeovers
By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor
We examine long-horizon stock returns around hedge fund activism in a comprehensive sample of 13D filings by portfolio investors between 1993 and 2006. Abnormal returns surrounding investor activism are high for the subset of targets that are... View Details
- 2007
- Other Unpublished Work
Hedge Fund Investor Activism and Takeovers
By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor
We examine long-horizon stock returns around hedge fund activism in a comprehensive sample of 13D filings by portfolio investors between 1993 and 2006. Abnormal returns surrounding investor activism are high for the subset of targets that are acquired ex-post, but not... View Details
- 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
- November 2006 (Revised December 2012)
- Background Note
Strategies Beyond the Market
By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis Yao
Strategists are not alone in finding failing markets irresistible. Governments and social groups ranging from unions to the World Wildlife Fund also respond to market failures. Governments typically seek to fix failing markets, often with prescriptions of what... View Details
- June 2006 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Creditor Activism in Sovereign Debt: 'Vulture' Tactics or Market Backbone
By: Laura Alfaro and Ingrid Vogel
The role of distressed debt funds, also known as "vulture funds," in sovereign debt restructuring was a hotly debated topic, especially after the success of Elliot Associates in converting an $11 million investment in Peruvian bonds worth $21 million into a $58 million... View Details
- June 2002 (Revised November 2005)
- Case
Life, Death, and Property Rights: The Pharmaceutical Industry Faces AIDS in Africa
By: Debora L. Spar
In the final years of the 20th century, the world was hit by a plague of epidemic proportions--AIDS, a life-threatening disease that remained stubbornly immune to any cure or vaccine. In the developed nations of the West, AIDS was slowly brought under control through a... View Details
- October 2001 (Revised April 2002)
- Case
Calgene, Inc.
By: Ray A. Goldberg and John T. Gourville
In 1993, Calgene is on the verge of introducing the world's first genetically engineered plant product--a tomato will taste better and stay fresh longer. At the same time, it is using biotechnology to produce improved plant products for the cottonseed and the... View Details
- June 2001 (Revised November 2001)
- Case
Plum Creek Timber (B)
By: Max H. Bazerman, Jack Troast, Hannah Bowles and Nicole Nasser
Plum Creek Timber Co. decides to go ahead with negotiations for a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) on its Pacific Northwest properties. HCP represents a new form of public-private-sector collaboration and innovation to improve upon command-and-control environmental... View Details
- January 2000 (Revised September 2002)
- Case
Hitting the Wall: Nike and International Labor Practices
By: Debora L. Spar and Jennifer Burns
In the mid-1990s Nike, one of the world's most successful footwear companies, is hit by a spate of alarmingly bad publicity. After years of high-profile media attention as the company that can "just do it," Nike is suddenly being portrayed as a firm that relies on... View Details
- February 1998 (Revised March 2000)
- Case
Burma Pipeline, The
By: Debora L. Spar and Lane LaMure
In 1996, Unocal Corp. joined forces with the French Total company to construct an ambitious natural gas pipeline from the Andaman Sea across the southern tip of Burma and into Thailand. At an estimated cost of $1.2 billion, the pipeline was designed to bring sorely... View Details