One of the men who helped create modern corporate raiding by publicly castigating companies is complaining about being publicly castigated. Nelson Peltz’s Trian moaned on Wednesday that the Walt Disney Company is running a “scorched Earth” campaign that even includes “mudslinging!”  

This week, Disney not only put out its investor presentation and received a rare endorsement from one of the most powerful CEOs on Wall Street, Jamie Dimon, but also brought out Pinocchio to expose some of Peltz and Trian’s own propaganda.

As activism season continues to heat up, Peltz’s fellow octogenarian, Carl Icahn, took a backseat this week. Reuters’ Svea Herbst Bayliss and David Carnevali broke the news that Icahn abandoned plans to launch his second board challenge in two years at medical device company Illumina. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal’s Lauren Thomas reported that Third Point’s Dan Loeb will appoint three new nominees to the Advanced Auto Parts board after calling for more directors with auto experience. In her other reporting on the activism beat, Thomas also noted that the activist firm Land & Buildings Investment Management is demanding additional shareholder returns at Equity Commonwealth and is threatening the real estate investment trust with a potential proxy fight. 

Lastly, the DealBook team revealed that Jason Karp and Alex Spiro are “turning activist investor” and attacking Kellogg for using potentially harmful and artificial ingredients in their products. 

Have a great weekend,

GPP Team

Breakingviews: Hostile Bidders Run into a Credibility Crunch

Jonathan Guilford details why companies should "beware" and closely scrutinize the credibility of debt-heavy acquisition proposals. Read More

Bloomberg: Macy’s Open to Engaging with Arkhouse, Brigade on Takeover Offer

Crystal Tse notes that opening the lines of communication between Macy’s and the activist firms could be setting the stage for a potential agreement after months of impasse between the sides. Read More

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Conversations with Tyler: Marc Rowan on Financial Market Evolution and University Governance

Marc Rowan, co-founder and CEO of Apollo Global Management, joins the latest episode of the Conversations with Tyler Podcast to discuss the impact of rising interest rates, the evolution of private credit, the future of university governance and more. Listen Here

Columbia Law School Blue Sky Blog: Getting Serious About Stakeholders

William Fisher, University of Richmond School of Law Professor, offers six tenets to help companies decide when and how to balance maximizing shareholder value or pursuing the well-being of all their stakeholders. Read More

Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance: 2024 U.S. Proxy Season Preview: Governance Back on Agenda While Sustainability Recedes

A new Harvard Law School Forum blogpost breaks down the impact of recent Delaware Chancery rulings, and notes that shareholder support for senior board directors on governance committees continues to erode this proxy season. Read More

M&A

Financial Times: Joe Biden Set to Voice Concerns Over Nippon Steel Takeover of US Steel

Politicians are taking center-stage in dealmaking conversations. President Biden all but directly blocked Nippon Steel’s proposed deal to acquire U.S. Steel by issuing a statement emphasizing that the company should be “domestically owned and operated”, write Demetri Sevastopulo and Kana Inagaki. Read More

The Deal: New Report Challenges Biden’s Antitrust Record

David Hatch highlights a new report from the Progress Policy Institute suggesting that the current FTC and DOJ lag on key enforcement metrics when compared to past administrations. Read More

CNBC: Former Treasury Secretary Mnuchin Is Putting Together an Investor Group to Buy TikTok

Steven Mnuchin revealed on Squawk Box that he is putting together a consortium of investors to purchase TikTok, marking a busy week for the Former Treasury Secretary after he also announced a $1 billion investment into New York Community Bank. Read More

Reuters Breakingviews: How to Sustain the Big Rebound in Dealmaking: Podcast

Evercore's Bill Anderson joins Breakingviews' The Exchange podcast to talk about the latest trends in dealmaking and the factors that can lead to a sustained spike in M&A activity through this and next year. Listen Here

Bloomberg: Dealmakers Curb Their Enthusiasm in New Orleans

Michelle Davis, Ryan Gould and Crystal Tse recap the highlights from the Tulane University Corporate Law Institute conference last week, including general optimism for an increase in deal-making in 2024. Read More

IPO

The New York Times: Reddit’s Long, Rocky Road to an Initial Public Offering

Mike Isaac previews Reddit’s upcoming IPO next week, which is set to once again relaunch the IPO market, and chronicles the long, behind-the-scenes journey leading to the tech companies eventual public filing. Read More

ESG

CFO Daily: A Former SEC Attorney on the New Climate Rules

Fortune's Sheryl Estrada breaks down the potential impact of the SEC's updated climate-risk disclosure rules, including the likelihood that CFOs will need to increasingly work closely with sustainability offices to coordinate on sustainability reporting. Read More

Bloomberg Businessweek: Academics Question ESG Studies That Helped Fuel Investing Boom

Saijel Kishan examines recent apprehension and scrutiny towards prior studies on ESG investments. Read More

FROM OUR DESK TO YOURS

One of the many advantages of spending a weekend in New York is the variety of activities you can fit into one day…especially if that day is St. Patrick’s Day. Before the Guinness is poured and the bagpipes start playing, you could also celebrate Asia Week New York where 28 top Asian art galleries, including The Met and Brooklyn Museum, lend space to showcase Asian art. If you still haven’t got your art fill, the 81st edition of the Whitney Biennial — the longest-running survey of contemporary art in the United States — starts this weekend. The exhibition’s subtitle, Even Better Than the Real Thing, touches on A.I and its impact on our understanding of what is real.

If you do want to imbibe – ahem – in some St. Patty’s day traditions, start with the Parade – the oldest and largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in the world — and end in just about any Irish Pub in the city and you are sure to have a good time. The next day, Gladstone’s own Felipe Ucrós and Vanessa Esparza will be running The NYC Half Marathon. We wish all the runners a good race and look forward to a (preferably a Guinness) cheers at the finish line! 

PEOPLE MOVES

• Ortenca Aliaj is switching beats at the Financial Times to become Banking Editor. Read more
• PetCo Health & Wellness CEO Ron Coughlin will step down while the board has appointed Michael Mohan to serve the Chief Executive role in the interim. Read more
• Former Elliot PM Sebastien de La Riviere is joining A5 Capital, a new investment firm that will manage the capital of tech entrepreneur Alex Algard. Read more
• Goldman Sachs announced that board member Jessica Uhl will step down to focus on her role as President of GE’s energy spin-off GE Vernova. Read more
• Lightspeed Venture Partners hired former Elliot Senior Managing Director Isaac Kim as the venture capital firm plans a foray into technology-focused LBOs. Read more

• April 17: The 2024 Berkeley Forum: M&A and The Boardroom, San Francisco
• May 5-8: Milken Institute Global Conference, Los Angeles