• 12 May 2009 at 8:04 AM

Ackman: I Am Not GekkoIcahn

By Equity Private

ackman3.jpgWe aren’t totally sure that “soft sell” is how we would put it, but maybe softer sell. And this is definitely just because we can’t help but root for Ackman (90% losses are nothing compared to boyish charm, you know) and Target is such a tantalizing… er… target. Plus, anyone who doubles down with such ease cannot help but attract our (sideways, nervous) glance. So, if the Post wants to give us WA the soft-seller underdog, we’re game.

Portraying himself as “the underdog” in the fight, Ackman referred to Target’s board as a stagnating “friend of Bob,” with change-resistant members handpicked long ago by retired chairman Bob Ulrich.
As he introduced his own slate to Target investors at a Midtown auditorium yesterday, Ackman took pains to insist that his own nominees — with backgrounds in groceries, credit cards and corporate governance, in addition to real estate — weren’t merely stooges assembled to further his own agenda.
“I just want independent, fresh perspective on the board,” Ackman said.

(Michael Douglas actually thought Gekko was evil, and Carl may be the elder statesman of activists, but you are the young upstart for us every time! Call us WA! We still love you!)
Ackman’s Soft Sell [The New York Post]

Comments (18)

  1. 1
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:12 AM

    Ackman stop whining – if you want to run a company start a PE firm – buy your targets and live or die with them rather than cry from the sideline.
    hawai you are a pussy!

  2. 2
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:16 AM

    Bloomberg – California’s budget deficit has grown so severe that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he may be forced to release 40,000 prisoners or lay off 51,000 teachers if voters next week reject three budget balancing measures.
    Now the terminator is threatening to sick the evil doers of society upon us unless the taxpayers gives him money…..

  3. 3
    Posted by Equity Private | May 12, 2009 at 8:20 AM

    Who are the evil doers in this story again? The prisoners or the teachers?

  4. 4
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:22 AM

    Is there a difference?

  5. 5
    Posted by Equity Private | May 12, 2009 at 8:25 AM

    Well, I think the ratio is off.
    The negative utility of 51,000 members of California Teachers’ Unions must exceed that of 40,000 prisoners in a state with large portions of non-violent drug offenders.

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:25 AM

    No.
    Sincerely, William Ackman

  7. 7
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:41 AM

    pls post nude pics and i may reply.
    Best,
    William Ackman

  8. 8
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:41 AM

    and oh, pls permaban TGFD.
    Best,
    William Ackman

  9. 9
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:42 AM

    and #6 he’s an imposter.
    Best,
    William Ackman

  10. 10
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 8:56 AM

    @1 – Why don’t you pitch it to Cerberus? They seem to have some capacity at the moment.

  11. 11
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 9:03 AM

    7,8 and 9: thanks for stealing my joke you hack.
    Sincerely, William Ackman

  12. 12
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 9:17 AM

    BillAckman@#8…
    Lobbying to “permaban TGFD” is not going to help you with Target. Stay focused, man.
    The Guy from Delaware

  13. 13
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 9:28 AM

    @11
    oh so it was a joke – very nasty to play with EP’s emotions like that…

  14. 14
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 9:30 AM

    Bloomberg picked up the Obama Portfolio story from EP.
    Obama Beats Buffett With Stock Market Advice: Chart of the Day
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=acfK4UBwO_ug&refer=home
    I’m sure EP will resume the Obama Portfolio if we hit the March bottoms again since all she was doing was trying to mock Obama. But to me that will be a buy signal.

  15. 15
    Posted by Novice | May 12, 2009 at 9:56 AM

    @ep
    Further proof that Arnold is employing his shitty approval ratings and reverse psychology to perform a beneficial act (actually, two)

  16. 16
    Posted by Anal_yst | May 12, 2009 at 10:28 AM

    “I am NOT a destroyer of companies, I am a LIBERATOR of them!”

  17. 17
    Posted by guest | May 12, 2009 at 11:27 AM

    (stands up)
    I AM WILLIAM ACKMAN.

  18. 18
    Posted by Ben Dover | December 10, 2010 at 6:08 AM

    If you have forty cents, I will take it from you. F the working class and F your investments. I will steal it

    William Ackman

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