Activism Eras Tour Begins as Travis Kelce Takes Joyride with JANA | | |
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It looks like Travis Kelce is finding alternate ways to fund his upcoming wedding with Taylor Swift. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end is teaming up with JANA Partners in a 9% stake in Six Flags Entertainment disclosed at the 13D Active Passive Summit. Six Flags’ shares are down roughly 55% YTD amid poor weather, merger pains from its 2024 MOE with Cedar Fair, and news that its CEO will step down by year-end.
This news comes just days after Sachem Head Capital announced on October 17 that a partner with the firm, who holds a 10% stake, will join its board. Meanwhile, Land & Buildings, which took a 3% stake in 2022, continues to push for real estate monetization.
We were admittedly impressed with JANA’s press release, which embedded a clip from the Kelce brothers’ hit podcast, “New Heights,” where Travis and his brother Jason Kelce (Super Bowl LII Champion with the excellent, widely misunderstood, and definitely not overrated Philadelphia Eagles) laid down the law, “Cedar Point is the best amusement park.” The brothers reminisced about going once or twice a year as kids, dubbing it, “Roller Coaster USA” and laughing about how those trips shaped their lifelong love of rides, and apparently now, their investment strategy.
It’s a reminder that athletes – from Serena Williams’ VC fund to Kevin Durant’s SPAC days and Shaq’s Papa John’s Board tenure – have been edging ever closer to Wall Street. Activism might just be the next frontier. We suspect that Kansas City fans, a bit happier these days, want Travis to focus on his day job.
For those attending next week’s Berkeley Fall Forum on Corporate Governance, please join us at our welcome cocktail party on Monday, October 27th at International Smoke. The GPP team will be there in force and is looking forward to your RSVP at events@gladstoneplace.com.
Have a great weekend,
GPP Team
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The Wall Street Journal: Activist JANA Pushes Big Contact-Lens Combination of Cooper and Bausch + Lomb
In non-Kelce activism news, JANA Partners announced a large stake in Cooper Cos., noting that the company should combine its contact-lens unit with rival Bausch + Lomb. This prompted commentary from Bausch + Lomb CEO Brent Saunders, an executive known for dealmaking, who said that he would be open to such a tie-up. Cooper shares rose 6% in premarket trading following the news, which could create a more scaled competitor to Johnson & Johnson and Alcon. Read More
The Wall Street Journal: Activist Starboard Takes Big Stake in Construction Firm
Starboard Value has disclosed a nearly 5% stake in Fluor and is pressing the company to explore options for its valuable NuScale Power investment. The activist believes Fluor’s core engineering business is being undervalued as NuScale’s shares surge amid rising energy demand from AI and data-center growth. Read More
Reuters: Novo Nordisk's Top Investor Seizes Board Control in Weight-Loss Drug Battle
The non-profit Novo Nordisk Foundation is proposing its own chair, former Novo CEO Lars Rebien Sorensen, to lead the Danish drugmaker’s board in the latest move to revive sales of Novo’s weight-loss drug Wegovy. This comes after current chair Helge Lund and six other members will step down next month, prompted by the foundation’s criticisms of the board’s delayed recognition of shifts in the key U.S. market. Read More
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Bloomberg: Blackstone and TPG Agree to $18 Billion Deal to Buy Hologic
Blackstone and TPG, continuing PE dealmaking and underscoring private equity’s renewed appetite for healthcare deals, announced a deal for medical-device maker Hologic. The deal, backed in part by sovereign wealth funds from Abu Dhabi and Singapore, was for a company that due to its steady cash flow and specialized niche, made it an ideal target for a leveraged buyout. Read More
Financial Times: Kering Chief Vows Rapid Overhaul After Sealing €4B Beauty Deal
In the first major move by new Kering CEO Luca de Meo, the company announced the sale of its €4 billion beauty division to L’Oréal. The move, which is a part of a broader push to refocus on fashion, trims overall company debt and could be a sign of upcoming moves. Read More
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Board Friendly SEC Chair Looks to Reframe Shareholder Proposals
In a recent memo, lawyers from Davis Polk noted that recent comments from SEC Chairman Paul Atkins might push Delaware corporations to challenge non-binding shareholder proposals under Rule 14a-8, deeming the precatory proposals “improper” and opening the door for companies to exclude such proposals. The memo noted that Atkins remarks point to a potential shift in authority from the SEC toward state-law frameworks. Meanwhile, Atkins was on CNBC earlier this week where this was one of many topics discussed. Read More
Bloomberg: Musk Hijacks Tesla Earnings Call to Vouch for $1 Trillion Pay Plan
In a surprising twist, Tesla shareholders were given a shocking interruption to the carmaker’s earnings call on Thursday when CEO Elon Musk interrupted CFO Vaibhav Taneja with a plea to approve his $1 trillion pay package. After shareholder advisory firms ISS and Glass Lewis both advised shareholders to reject this proposal, Musk blasted the firms and called their recommendations “asinine.” In what has been a years-long, ongoing saga, the next chapter will be written in a few weeks when votes are due at Tesla’s annual meeting. Read More
Bloomberg: Vanguard Adds $1.4 Trillion S&P Funds to Investor Proxy Program
In a major expansion of its pass-through voting program, the asset management company announced that it is adding three funds, including its flagship 500 Index Fund in 2026. The expansion doubles the number of eligible investors and triples the assets eligible to over $3 trillion, representing over 50% of Vanguard’s total US equity index assets. Read More. And read our client memo on the topic if you have not seen.
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The Information: 2026: The Year of an IPO Thaw?
As a part of SF Tech Week, The Information’s Katie Roof sat down with Erik Peña, head of market development at New York Stock Exchange, Charly Kevers, chief financial officer at Carta, and Art Levy, chief business officer at Brex, to discuss how IPOs are finally showing “signs of life” again. The panel discussed renewed optimism in the market and if this momentum will continue in 2026 and beyond. Read More
Bloomberg: OpenAI Rival Cohere Looking to IPO ‘Soon,’ CEO Gomez Says
While technology company IPOs have been hot lately, comments from Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez could signal one of the first IPOs from an AI model maker. Even though the company did not announce a firm timeline, all eyes will be on future updates after Gomez noted that he hopes the AI startup can make its public market debut “soon.” Read More
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The sporting calendar offers viewers an exciting treat on Monday, October 27th with the 2025 Sports Equinox. For those who are new to this phenomenon, the Sports Equinox occurs when four major professional North American sports leagues – NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL – all have games on the same day.
This year, which will only be the 32nd occurrence of this event (partially due to the baseball calendar moving later each year), is headlined by Game 3 of the MLB’s World Series (featuring Toronto Blue Jays and baseball's new “Evil Empire,” the Los Angeles Dodgers) and the NFL’s Monday Night Football (Washington Commanders at the Kansas City Chiefs).
Finally, for those of you who are looking to leave the couch this weekend, Taste of the Seaport, Lower Manhattan’s waterfront culinary and community festival, will be celebrating its 15th year on Saturday, October 25. This event will feature some of the city’s top restaurants including Chef Andrew Carmellini’s Italian chophouse Carne Mare, Chef John Fraser’s modern French brasserie La Marchande, and Jean-George Vongerichten’s lauded The Fulton and T. Brasserie, among many others.
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Citigroup has elected CEO Jane Fraser as chair of the bank’s board of directors, combining the roles. Read More
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Fannie Mae has replaced CEO Priscilla Almodovar with current COO Peter Akwaboah and promoted John Roscoe and Brandon Hamara to co-presidents. Read More
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Boston Consulting Group has named Amyn Merchant as chief risk officer following Adam Farber’s departure. Read More
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