Martin Lipton, founder of the “Poison Pill” and partner of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz was keynote speaker at yesterday’s New York Bar Association conference entitled "Counseling the Board of Directors During the New Age of Activist Shareholders." Mr. Lipton was highly critical of activist investors in general, stating that they are too focused on short-term profits.
Ironically, Mr. Lipton was introduced by Jared Landaw senior managing director of Barington Capital Group, an activist hedge fund that was founded in 1991 by James A. Mitarotonda. Mr. Lipton was critical of activists that force companies to focus on short-term price gains rather than long-term shareholder value.
He did, however, praise what he called “responsible activist investors,” like Ralph Whitworth of Relational Investors LLC, which he said use a long-term shareholder view when engaging in activist activities. |
