Friday, January 25, 2013

Early Weekend Entertainment: Carl Ichan versus Bill Ackman

It's on, Carl Ichan versus Bill Ackman. Not to be missed.

Bill Ackman, the head of Pershing Square Capital Management and its $12 billion in assets, squared off On CNBC against Carl Icahn, with an estimated fortune of nearly $15 billion.

Between the insults and kicks in the balls there's some pretty decent insight into how Wall Street major players operate.

Watch the cat fight here.

5 comments:

  1. Sorry, but there were no insights, merely personal accusations. Complete waste of CNBC air time, but naturally CNBC hosts think it was the best reporting ever. Now that is a disgusting insight.

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  2. I used to work at Borders corporate HQ. Ackman was the last ghoul to feast on the corpse of a once-great company. He installed a complete douchebag/nitwit, Ron Marshall, as CEO, who sucked his share of blood before galavanting off to the next victim.

    Fuck him. And fuck the other guy, too. I'm sure all the crap they each threw on each other is true and perfectly deserved.

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    Replies
    1. I think Ackman is a good guy. There is definitely nothing wrong with what he does.

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  3. Regarding Herbalife -- part of the discussion there -- ironically, tonight I came across two new articles regarding Iowa Senator Tom Harkin.

    A new public policy institute named after him is controversial, among other reasons, for how it was rushed through the Iowa Board of Regents by his wife Ruth, of which she herself is a member (it was basically a completed deal before it was announced publically):

    Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Herbalife) gets cash for institute after legislative favors (TheIowaRepublican.com)

    DES MOINES—In the summer of 2011, when most Hawkeye State politicians spent sweaty sessions with constituents in Iowa’s communities, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) sat down to a steak dinner with a team of corporate lobbyists and executives in Beverly Hills, Calif. . . . . . .

    The driving force behind the Harkin Institute’s fundraising is Harkin’s wife Ruth, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist and oil company executive. She orchestrated a strategy to push the institute through the Board of Regents, of which she is a member, in April 2011. Emails obtained through public records requests show that Ruth Harkin pushed for quick approval of the institute, after she quietly raised its seed money. Harkin needed to act quickly—while her political allies remained on the appointed board and before Republican appointees of Gov. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa) took office in May. Republicans sought to slow down regent approval of the institute, arguing that naming a state-run think tank for a sitting Senator posed inherent conflicts of interest and ethics problems.


    Cuddling with Power: Herbalife donates to Tom Harkin's policy institute shortly after dinner meeting, documents reveal (The Washington Free Beacon)

    Herbalife has been Harkin’s largest financial donor throughout his political career, campaign finance records show. . . . .

    Viveca Novak, editorial and communications director for the Center for Responsive Politics, said that while the situation presented by Harkin’s relationship to Herbalife may not be illegal, it does raise ethical questions.

    “It’s clearly another way for a donor to ingratiate him or herself with a member of Congress,” she said. . . . .


    This is probably all just business as usual. Senator Harkin surely has to hope though that Bill Ackman is wrong about Herbalife.

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  4. Harkin announced this morning that he won't seek reelection. Hmmm...

    Sen. Tom Harkin will not seek reelection in 2014

    The 73-year-old Harkin tells The Associated Press in an interview, "It's just time to step aside," because by the time he would finish a sixth term, he would be 81.

    Harkin said it would also allow a new generation of Democrats to seek higher office.

    The announcement comes as a surprise, considering he had $2.7 million in his campaign war chest and was planning a fundraiser next month.

    Harkin played a lead role in urging the Senate's more liberal members to back the 2010 health care bill. ...

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