In September 2006, Pirate Capital was managing $1.802 billion. Today? Less than $400 million. September 2006? Interns were given the special assignment to go down the road to buy minnows for bigger fish to devour to the leering delight of a staff busy not executing profitable trades. Today? Tom Hudson is forced to make his own trips to PetSmart. You could blame the changes in AUM and aquatic life responsibilities on simply a run of bad luck, or recent market turbulence, but the story we’re hearing (from, yes, a maybe unreliable source) sounds slightly more plausible, if you know how Tom Hudson feels about soft rock ballads.
Apparently Isa Bolotin isn’t the only offspring of Michael Bolton neé Bolotin working at Pirate (in the increasingly irrelevant role of director of investor relations). Bolton’s other daughter, Holly, is currently on payroll as personal assistant to Hudson, which, according to some people, carries the responsibility of making decisions regarding workforce cutbacks. Supposedly, the Pirate staff, which is now down to five, let go of three employees this week (without severance, natch) because Holly told big T to get rid of them, on suspicion that (and this is almost better than the Michael Bolton connection) they posted incriminating comments about her on a Wall Street tabloid. (To her credit, Holly only thought it was one of them, but all three were terminated to be sure all bases were covered.) If you believe that, then you’ll also believe the broader allegation from our source that Hudson “blindly does whatever the Bolotin girls tell him to do, and will be able to blame them when he’s forced to shutter the fund.” Pirate Capital would not confirm or deny any part of the story, because they would not permit us to ask any questions. Their phones are apparently programmed to hang up, after a hand is placed over the receiver and whispers are exchanged, when the word “dealbreaker” is mentioned. Twice.
Earlier: What The Seed Of Michael Bolton Hath (Possibly) Wrought
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Pirate Capital
Who’s Running Pirate Capital (Into The Ground)? If You’re Not A Michael Bolton Fan, The Answer May Surprise You
By Bess LevinComments (17)
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investigative journalism! love it. and way to get this story before the journal!
Bess,
Any insight on Holly’s looks? Oh and did they let go of their 20 year old head of sales?
I don’t remember seeing anyone posting any comments here about such a person. Am I missing something?
any pics of isa or holly?
http://www.dealbreaker.com/2007/05/can_i_touch_youthere.php#comment-124148
you kill me BL.
descriptions of the slut sisters?….uhm, let’s see….plain, pear-shaped, brainless, bitchy barflies, and willing to give it up to the highest (obviously desperate) bidder …(with no intelligence, skills or experience, how else could they earn a living? sponge off has-been daddy forever??)…Holly supposedly has more mileage on her than a 747…..get the picture?…..yet sugardaddy Tom doesn’t seem to mind supporting them or letting them run the business (into the ground!)…..oh, and 3 dead babies between them in less than a year – must be a new family record…wonder if all 3 were the big T’s??? would that mean he was bedding his girlfriend, her sister and his ex-wife all at the same time??? you’d think that he was actually a good-looking stud or something. NOT! guess all that running around would explain why they say he doesn’t spend any time working at Pirate anymore. ahoy mateys, abandon ship! she’s a-sinkin’ fast!
jean was a girl from birmingham. she just had an abortion.
How is he supposed to live without them? Now that he’s been loving them so long? How is he supposed to live without them?
Forget live without them, how has he survived this long with them? I’ve never felt bad for Tom in any situation, but his flower bill alone must have topped seven-figures. I’ve never heard so much moaning, and no I don’t mean that way….
lets not forget tom slept with his lawyer during his child custody battle either. What a scumb bag! I feel for anyone who has worked for tom let alone sleep with him.
Look at the latest 13F. Pirate is down to $245mm AUM as of 9/30/07. YTD they’re down $40.6mm (-13.7%). It’s amazing that Tom ran his $1.8B fund into the ground just so that he didn’t have to pay the analysts market comp. What a stupid trade. But I guess we shouldn’t expect anything less from a guy that chose to sue Goldman Sachs after getting fired for having an inappropriate extra-marital relationship with a subordinate.
How will Tom ever get liquidity? Hand back more BCO stock to investors? BCO is over 50% of its portfolio. PBY and BCO make up over 89% of its portfolio!
* at close 2:45 pm EST
DJIA 13076.64 -33.41 -0.25%
Nasdaq 2615.30 -3.21 -0.12%
S&P 500 1447.20 -3.95 -0.27%
Source: Dow Jones, Reuters
Pirate AUM: 253,591,385.75
YTD Loss: -43,674,783.68
YTD % Change: -14.7%
ADG Allied Defense Group
12/31/06 Price 21.25
Shares Owned 1,170,361
Today’s Price 6.52
YTD -69.32%
YTD Loss -46,814.44
% of Portfolio 3%
AGL Angelica Corp.
12/31/06 Price 25.80
Shares Owned 1,215,147
Today’s Price 16.06
YTD -37.75%
YTD Loss -11,835,533
% of Porfolio 7.7%
BCO Brink’s Co.
12/31/06 Price 63.92
Shares Owned 2,186,238
Today’s Price 59.83
YTD -6.40%
YTD Loss -830,770.44
% of Portfolio 51.6%
PBY Pep Boys
12/31/06 Price 14.86 Shares Owned 6,817,017
Today’s Price 14.03
YTD -5.59%
YTD Loss -5,658,124.11
% of Portfolio 37.7%
UnRealized Gain/Loss
-43,674,783.68
-14.69%
ACTIVISM AT ITS BEST. What’s Plan B Tom? Have BCO test its 52-week low? Looks like PBY did that yesterday.
* at close 11/28 4:08 pm EST
DJIA * 13289.45 331.01 2.55%
Nasdaq * 2662.91 82.11 3.18%
S&P 500 * 1469.02 40.79 2.86%
Source: Dow Jones, Reuters
Pirate AUM: 238,462,395.05
YTD Gain/Loss: -58,803,774.38
% Change 11/28 : -4.63%
ADG Allied Defense Group Corp.
12/31/06 Price 21.25
Shares Owned 1,170,361
Today’s Price 5.65
YTD -73.41%
YTD Loss -18,257,631.60
% of Portfolio 3%
AGL Angelica Corp.
12/31/06 Price 25.80
Shares Owned 1,215,147
Today’s Price 16.06
YTD -37.17%
YTD Loss -11,653,260.95
% of Porfolio 7.7%
BCO Brink’s Co.
12/31/06 Price 63.92
Shares Owned 2,186,238
Today’s Price 61.13
YTD -4.33%
YTD Loss -6,055,874.89
% of Portfolio 51.6%
PBY Pep Boys
12/31/06 Price 14.86
Shares Owned 6,817,017
Today’s Price 11.51
YTD -22.54%
YTD Loss -22,837,006.95
% of Portfolio 37.7%
YTD UnRealized Gain/Loss
-58,803,774.38
-19.78%
One thing that only we former interns no is that Tom went massively short ABX in february or march after the whole underreported (except on DB) bear stearns hedge fund thing went down, and is actually up 495% for the year. He still has $1.8 billion under management, but it doesn’t show up in his 13F because it’s all either invested internationally or sitting around as collateral for his shorts.
eric, you are a moron.
Eric – Lie. TH believed shorting was decidedly un-American (his best short was BZH, which he shorted at the end of 2005 at 70, then shortly thereafter covered at 80).
TH just wasn’t and isn’t that smart. Don’t let the returns fool you – the REAL returns (those made on $1B of AUM) were made by the people in his employ. If employing smart people makes you smart, then TH was smart. However, what does it make you when you run them all out (and your returns subsequently reflect that)?