Princeton University Library Catalog
- Author/Artist:
- Michaelson, Sam Z. [Browse]
- Format:
- Senior thesis
- Language:
- English
- Advisor(s):
- Bigio, Saki [Browse]
- Department:
- Princeton University. Department of Economics [Browse]
- Class year:
- 2015
- Description:
- 59 pages
- Summary note:
- I examine activist hedge fund performance from the perspective of the activist.
Activist hedge funds have historically appeared in the news and continue to be
prominently reported in the media as a result of: significant investments in public
companies, frequent new analyses evaluating their latest performance, and
criticism from much of the business world. Using data acquired from
13Dmonitor.com, I begin with a comprehensive review of activist performance in
the last 20 years, and compare my results to reports in the literature. I then
examine activist performance over the years, and discuss the impact of Item 4
actions. Next, I explore the success level of activists, and the corresponding
performance. I further consider the specific wording that hedge funds use in their
Item 4 filings, and determine which have proven to be most successful. I then
discuss several case studies from two of the most prominent activists. Lastly, I
conclude with an evaluation of the value imparted by activist hedge funds as well
as recent criticism conferred upon them.
