investment management founded 1995 founder daniel s. loeb headquarters new york city u.s. products hedge fund aum 17.5 billion 1 website www.thirdpoint.com third point management is a new york based hedge fund founded by daniel s. loeb in 1995 . it has returned over 25 % annually to investors 2 and as of september 2014 its assets under management has reached 17.5 billion . 3 it deploys a value focused strategy that invests in companies undergoing events such as spinoffs or bankruptcies and pushes for corporate change . according to forbes third point had a fabulous year in 2012 when it beat the u.s. stock market which most hedge funds failed to do with a 21.2 % net return ; it was one of the best performing hedge funds in 2012 . during the year third point made money betting on greek sovereign debt and ... led a successful effort to dislodge scott thompson from the ceo position at yahoo and replace him with marissa mayer . loeb joined yahoo s board of directors . he made news in early 2013 by taking a position in herbalife the nutritional supplements seller although he sold a considerable portion of his stake within weeks . third point s only negative year was 2002 when loeb unsuccessfully short sold technology shares in hopes of replicating the achievement of paul tudor jones ii who had perfectly timed the crash of 1987 according to new york magazine . as a result third point s portfolio s value decreased 7 % . 2 in his letter to investors for q1 of 2009 loeb said he was now less pessimistic about the economy and was accordingly reducing the firm s short positions . the new york times reported that his most profitable investment during the year was phh a mortgage outsourcing company whose stock is up about 35 percent this year . he did well with sun microsystems and was also betting on the merger of the drug giants pfizer and wyeth which he said could generate a 20 percent internal rate of return in six months . 4 in 2010 the third point offshore fund showed a 33.7 % return the ultra fund 38 % and the partners fund 41.5 % . 5 contents 1 stakeholdings 1.1 massey energy 1.2 acorda therapeutics 1.3 yahoo 1.3.1 board appointment 1.3.2 resignation from board 1.4 sotheby s 1.5 sony 1.6 mgm 1.7 fanuc 1.8 ligand pharmaceuticals 1.9 baxter international 2 third point funds 2.1 third point re 2.2 third point offshore investors ltd. 2.2.1 2010 letter about bernanke 2.2.2 fairfax lawsuit 3 references stakeholdings edit massey energy edit after a proxy fight third point announced in june 2006 that loeb and an ally todd q. swanson would join the board of massey energy the fourth largest coal producer in the united states . the new york times reported that third point owned 5.9 % of massey and that loeb had been feuding with the company for several months criticizing the management and bringing attention to executive trips to the bahamas las vegas and west palm beach florida on the company jet . in one note loeb wrote massey s c.e.o. is provided a company owned home to live in ... in fact after he leaves the company the house is to be given to him as a parting gift . no one else at the company gets free housing much less an entire home as a retirement gift . what kind of example does it set when a c.e.o. who makes 33.7 million in a single year is given free housing while the company is having difficulty retaining its mine workers 6 acorda therapeutics edit in february 2007 loeb asked acorda therapeutics in which third point had a 9.9 % stake to sell itself to a larger u.s. pharmaceutical firm arguing that a larger company with more experience would be able to expedite fampridine sr a multiple sclerosis drug produced by acorda through the food and drug administration fda approval process and into the hands of patients more quickly and efficiently . he argued that if acorda to continue going it alone or to seek partnership with a european firm would be a tremendous injustice not only to multiple sclerosis patients who should receive such an effective drug in the most expeditious manner possible but also to your public shareholders who have supported fampridine sr s development . his letter sent acorda shares up nearly 6.9 % . 7 acorda responded with a statement indicating that its board of directors continually evaluates ways to maximize shareholder value and to serve the best interests of all shareholders . 8 in may 2007 third point disclosed that it had lowered its stake in acorda to 4.1 % . 9 yahoo edit board appointment edit after third point disclosed its stake in yahoo on september 8 2011 calling for the resignations of four directors yahoo set up a conference call with loeb jerry yang of yahoo and one of the directors in question roy bostock . loeb said that the conversation concluded with mr. bostock s abrupt unilateral termination of the call . bostock however claimed that he had said that he had other shareholders to attend to and ended the phone call . 10 loeb informed yahoo ceo scott thompson in a march 2012 letter that third point wanted four seats on the firm s board . at the time third point owned about 5.3 % of the firm . yahoo sought to compromise by accepting one of loeb s board nominees harry wilson a restructuring specialist plus another candidate acceptable to the two sides but loeb insisted on being added himself to the board . yahoo refused telling loeb according to his own account that my experience and knowledge would not be additive to the board and that as yahoo s largest outside shareholder i would be conflicted as a director . ... only in an illogical alice in wonderland world would a shareholder be deemed to be conflicted from representing the interests of other shareholders because he is well a shareholder too . loeb charged that the board s evaluation of our candidates made a mockery of good principles of corporate governance . in response to yahoo s charge that third point was a short term investor loeb responded that this long term vs. short term excuse is a canard and particularly inapt in the case of yahoo . if there ever was a company in need of a sense of urgency it is this one . loeb added that the real issue is not short term versus long term but about board representatives who have skin in the game and will exercise sound business judgment . 11 in a may 2012 letter to yahoo s directors loeb noted that according to yahoo s filings with the u.s. securities and exchange commission newly hired ceo scott thompson had a bachelor s degree in accounting and computer science whereas a simple google search revealed that his degree was in accounting only ; thompson resigned ten days later . 12 on the same day loeb wilson and another third point candidate michael j. wolf were named to the yahoo s board . 13 resignation from board edit marissa mayer s appointment as ceo to replace thompson was seen as the culmination of loeb s efforts to transform yahoo . loeb wilson and wolf submitted their resignations from yahoo s board in july 2013 and yahoo bought back 40 million shares from third point leaving the hedge fund s ownership at less than 2 % so the three executives had to leave . however the hedge fund gained a profit of 1 billion . marissa mayer issued a statement praising loeb daniel loeb had the vision to see yahoo for its immense potential ... while there s still a lot of work ahead they ve given us a great foundation . 14 steven davidoff of new york times observed that yahoo seem ed like damaged goods now that it has been abandoned by one of its biggest investors daniel s. loeb noting that yahoo s share buyback had the whiff of greenmail or repurchasing stock to make an investor go away . 15 according to a january 2014 vanity fair profile when loeb told mayer he wanted to sell 20 million shares or one third of his remaining holdings mayer stated yahoo would buy back the stock at a guaranteed 29.11 per share but only if he sold 40 million shares . this transaction would bring loeb s stake below the 2 percent threshold which meant that he and the other two representatives would have to leave the board . 16 loeb also signed a standstill agreement in 2013 that bars him from activist investing in yahoo until 2018 . 17 sotheby s edit loeb s announcement in august 2013 stated that he acquired a 5.7 % stake in sotheby s causing its shares to rise 3 % . 18 sotheby s announced in september 2013 that it was considering moves like a share repurchase or raising its dividend a response to third point s having raised its stake in the company . the new york times reported that sotheby s share price had climbed about 5 percent since third point disclosed its increased stake . 19 loeb disclosed on october 2 2013 that he was now sotheby s largest shareholder with a 9.3 % stake . on the same date he announced his desire to join sotheby s board and called for the resignation of chairman and ceo william f. ruprecht . sotheby s is like an old master painting in desperate need of restoration loeb wrote in a letter to the sec charging that a crisis of management at the firm had resulted in dysfunctional divisions and a fractured culture as well as chronically weak operating margins and deteriorating competitive position relative to christie s sotheby s main competitor . the firm he wrote required new directors and needed for the positions of chairman and ceo to be filled by two different persons not one . in a later statement loeb said that sotheby s malaise is a result of a lack of leadership and strategic vision at its highest levels criticized ruprecht s 6.3 million salary and chastised the sotheby s directors for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in shareholder funds on a single extravagant meal banquet . 20 sotheby s replied to loeb with a statement maintaining that its actions as a leader in the global art business have been producing superior results including a share price increase exceeding the standard & poor s midcap index over the one five and ten year periods . 21 adam lindeman of the new york observer in an article headlined barbarians at sotheby s gate suggested that the firefight between loeb and sotheby s would benefit sotheby s a place lindeman described as having a british clubby feeling of privilege and stuffy pedigree compared to the considerably warmer feel of christie s. 22 ruprecht announced his resignation in november 2014 sending sotheby s shares up around 7 % a day . 23 sony edit loeb criticized the poor performance of sony s summer 2013 films after earth and white house down in a letter issued that year expressing concern that sony ceo kazuo hirai does not worry about a division that has just released 2013 s versions of waterworld and ishtar back to back . loeb proposed a partial spinoff handing about 15 % to 20 % to existing shareholders of sony s entertainment business and even offered to backstop the initial public offering up to 2 billion to ensure its success . 24 25 given entertainment s perpetual underperformance loeb wrote perhaps sony s reluctance to discuss it candidly stems from understandable embarrassment . 26 in addition to asking sony to spin off its entertainment assets loeb sought a