Ackman Going Public, Should Mega Cap Stocks Worry?

Notably, the principal proponents of shutting down shareholder activism are not investors, but legal advisors who “defend” companies from activists and profit from this activity. The anti-activists justify their attacks against activism by conflating short-termism with activism. We are strongly in agreement that short-termism is bad for the long-term health of companies and industries, but     successful shareholder activism is not short-termism. It is hard to argue that the changes we have wrought at Canadian Pacific, General Growth, Air Products, McDonald’s, Fortune Brands, Wendy’s, Howard Hughes, to name a few were those of a short-term investor. Our target holding…