Billionaire hedge-fund manager Dan Loeb calls himself an “activist investor,” but even in the rough-and-tumble financial world, his tactics—nasty, personal attacks on C.E.O.’s and colleagues—are considered extreme. After nearly losing his Third Point fund, in 2008, Loeb has come roaring back, hunting such big game as Yahoo, Sony, Morgan Stanley, and Sotheby’s. From Wall Street to Hollywood, everyone is crying foul, but as WILLIAM D. COHAN reports, Loeb’s ultimate weapon may be that he doesn’t give a damn
ARCH ENEMIES
Dan Loeb and his current antagonists: from left, George Clooney (who called Loeb a Hollywood “carpetbagger”), hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman, Sotheby’s C.E.O. William Ruprecht, and Sony C.E.O. Kazuo Hirai.
Once again, in October, Dan Loeb was lobbing grenades. This time his target was Sotheby’s, the international auction house, founded in…
