Callouts & quotes from 37,061+ activist slides

""Their consensus is very similar to what I have essentially told you." — Pfizer senior scientist. "AbbVie, for example, has Berkeley Lights too. And they voice the same kind of complaints that I've been sharing with you. It's not as reliable," — Pfizer senior scientist."

"“We are actively evaluating a number of streamlining initiatives that are aimed at improving the effectiveness of our corporate office and supporting functions. These measures are aimed at modernizing these functions while improving productivity.” — Rollins Q2 2023 10-Q"

"(a) holds permits, certificates, licenses, orders, registrations, franchises, authorizations, and other approvals from any Governmental Authority necessary for the conduct of its business and is in compliance with all applicable Laws relating thereto; — Credit Agreement"

""VAX-31 APPEARS BEST-IN-CLASS & SHOULD LEAD THE EXPANDING ADULT + INFANT MARKET... VAX-31 met non-inferiority to PCV20 across the board, was superior on many difficult and highly-prevalent serotypes, and the data were more striking than V116." — TD Cowen, September 2024"

""In 2015, Nevro hired away the senior partner of our sales territory, which had quite an impact for 2016. Most of the big whale implanters in our territory made a full switch over to Nevro. That lasted, and really hurt us, for about a year." — Medtronic regional manager"

"In January, we renewed our multiyear partnership with United Airlines, exemplifying the power of collaborative innovation. Together, we are focused on bringing new technology to enable friction-free travel experiences to United travelers. — CEO, Q4 2022 on March 1, 2023"

""It seems tautological, but standards aren't really standard unless they are widely adopted [...] You can't 'make' a standard any more than you can 'make' friends; people become friends over long association, and so it is with standards." — Carol Diamond and Clay Shirky"

"“When you combine all of that with our unrivaled portfolio of valuable businesses, brands and assets and the way we manage them together, Disney has a strong hand that differentiates us from others in the industry.” — Robert A. Iger, Disney CEO & Director, November 2023"

"“When you combine all of that with our unrivaled portfolio of valuable businesses, brands and assets and the way we manage them together, Disney has a strong hand that differentiates us from others in the industry.” — Robert A. Iger, Disney CEO & Director, November 2023"

"Certainly, Methodist is a huge user...yeah, the conflicts with Mark, you can see the obvious one...the Ghobrial relationship is a different flavor to me...it is a little bit different...there are similar backgrounds. — Transplant surgeon at a high-volume academic center"

"“Pretty much, because the aggressive centers are all the ones - or the ones that they would call aggressive centers, we were at very frequently. So, they would say an aggressive center, and it would be like San Diego or Arizona Mayo.” — Former TransMedics OCS specialist"

"I sought Harmony out and said, "Hey, look, dude. I really want to represent you guys.... I'm a very persuasive speaker. I'm passionate about what I do...I'm very enthusiastic, and I can talk to the wall; I can talk to anybody." — Physician and Harmony speaker in Alabama"

"The Mayo study should readout in the first half and as it relates to our placements -- while the successful outcome on the Mayo study could provide additional tailwind, it's not required for us to achieve the 300 to 400 placements that we've guided to. — Lawrence Mehren"

"“the problem is the throughput...they only have two in the production area because the throughput is too slow...it’s not affordable for production demands...it’s not economical.” — Longtime ex-TSMC procurement executive who introduced Lasertec inspection tools into TSMC"

"Let’s detour into the early days of China frauds – government-mandated Data vs investor-facing data. Different data sets likely prepared and submitted by different people, with one set of people focused on legal compliance and the other focused on defrauding investors."

"We believe it is Clear that the Current Board Has Failed in its Oversight of the Company and that Shareholders Deserve and Require Board Representatives Who Are Not Only Incredibly Well-Qualified and Experienced, But Who Are Committed to Holding Management Accountable."

"As Chair of the Compensation committee for each of the last 3 years, Glass Lewis has recommended that shareholders vote AGAINST Ms. Evans' continued service on the Board of Office Depot and has questioned whether she should even serve on any other public company board."

"Our review of the emerging markets which American Tower has entered (India, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, Chile, Peru) has revealed a multitude of operational risks with strong potential to negatively impact the Company’s long-term performance."

"Independence concerns over four out of the six outside directors (including direct links to OLC) raise serious doubts about their collective ability to fairly and objectively perform their duties – including fundamental checks and balances on management decision-making"

"From the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2007 to the day prior to our announcement of our proposed slate, Target stock declined by 51%. Over the same period, the stock of Wal-Mart, Target’s principal competitor, appreciated 11%, a ~62 percentage point outperformance"

"In a base-case scenario in which member owner sharebacks gradually rerate close to the average market rate, and in which PINC’s FY22 EV/EBITDA multiple contracts by ~35% as the economics of the business are reset, Spruce Point sees close to 70% downside in PINC shares."

"We believe Skechers' revenue growth over the past five years has largely been the product of two very simple and transitory catalysts. Approximately 60% of total revenue growth has come from the international wholesale business, and about half of that from China alone."

"Legions of lawyers hired by BlackRock's BoD, paid with shareholders' money, will not be able to convince anyone that, from a substantive perspective, Director Ms. Wagner does not have a material relationship with BlackRock's senior executives, hence is not independent."

"Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) shareholders, it's time to vote for a brighter future and better corporate governance. Vote the GOLD card FOR Elliott's board nominees Brian Coffman, Sigmund Cornelius, Michael Heim and Stacy Nieuwoudt, and FOR corporate governance enhancements."

"We believe our Proposal can potentially increase McDonald's share price to $50 per share. In addition, we believe McDonald's strong management team, running a world-leading brand, can create significant additional value based only on incremental operating improvements."

"Novartis referred to Twist as “definitely” a commodity vendor, dismissing their NGS offering - now the majority of Twist’s revenue and their key growth driver - as old news: “it’s all standard manufacturing technology”; “these things were already discovered years ago.”"

"We are writing to you on behalf of funds managed by Elliott Investment Management L.P. (together with such funds, "Elliott" or "we"). We have an investment of more than $2.5 billion in Phillips 66 (the "Company" or "Phillips"), making us one of your top five investors."

"Members are asked to advise whether the proposal with effect from 15 October to issue and redeem Certificates of Indebtedness only against US dollars at a fixed rate sould be implemented, and whether such a step should be accompanied by the zero-rating of interest tax."

"Many growth opportunities are available in the space, however, Kao’s best prospects for revenue and profit growth lie in the overseas opportunity set for its derma-skincare, select mass & prestige cosmetic brands; and its largest mass market skin & personal-care names."

"Assuming 75% of G&A is allocated to the Real Estate and Franchise business, an allocation that McDonald's management indicates is conservative, we indicate below the EBITDA for McOpCo and the Real Estate and Franchise businesses, as depicted in the reported financials."

"Spruce Point is amazed that not a single analyst is willing to offer a “Sell” opinion on HIMS. We do not believe the analysts have conducted a critical evaluation of the Company’s business prospects with the same analytical rigor and skepticism applied by Spruce Point."

"Our WFG recruiters made several probes into our personal lives during our recruiting calls. We believe these were high-pressure tactics used to play on our emotions. The recruiter also frequently referred to us as their friend, likely to deepen the personal connection."

"This suggests that Aegon's senior leadership is not only aware of Guillermo's ongoing involvement with the organization, despite his past conduct, but also allows him to hold a role of such significance that he is permitted to present openly at WFG's annual convention."

"Considering that nearly three-quarters of Aegon's new life sales are driven by IULs, we would expect Aegon to be overrepresented among IUL distributors and indeed through Q2'24 YTD, Transamerica is a top 3 IUL writer in terms of premiums and number of policies written."

"As shown in an excerpt from Intuit’s FY 2024 10-K above, Intuit includes interest revenue in “Service and Other Revenue”, thus prohibiting investors from understanding the scale and trends related to this markedly different revenue stream compared to its core business."

"Specifically the debt would have to be "in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practices". However, Forescout has never had to draw on its credit facility before as a public company, so the practice does not appear to be consistent with past practices."

"Might AMT management, which certainly has a record of being less than transparent about its overseas business, be desperate to augment its tower base by 25% in order to obscure organic growth going forward, and to maintain the optics of 20% dividend growth at any cost?"

"Legions of lawyers hired by BlackRock's BoD, paid with shareholders' money, will not be able to convince anyone that, from a substantive perspective, Director Ms. Wagner does not have a material relationship with BlackRock's senior executives, hence is not independent."

"Ex-employees indicated the instrument was instable and even super-users internally couldn’t keep up, and that both the software and hardware behave unpredictably with “no transparency into why things go wrong; instrument behaves in way that are “completely unexpected.”"

"Warning: AOL / Time Warner was a bull market merger, over-promoted by analysts, and mired in fraud. Legal documents show that Analyst Martin played a role in promoting the story, and was willing to write glowing commentary on the company so not as to offend management."

"We adjust Fairfax's Book Value down by $171 million due to the Grivalia Properties ("GP") transactions with Eurobank that, in a manner reminiscent of the pre-GFC trading among Icelandic banks, inflated profits, asset values, and book value at both Eurobank and Fairfax."

"In addition to its dominant position in Korea and a strong footprint in the three largest auto markets – US, Western Europe and China – Hyundai Motor Group is well-positioned to capture further growth opportunities in top three growth markets – India, Russia and Brazil"

"KOL's and former executives blasted the study for using the same tricks and gimmicks as the SENZA trial: an open-label design (i.e., no blinding), a loosy-goosy comparator arm guaranteed to produce a "successful" trial, cherry-picked patients, and patient manipulation."

"I could tell you seven surgeons who would be, should be excluded from surgery for life because they're very, very brutal - I mean, they have terrible outcomes. They kill more patients than they save, and they still go on to jump around the country at various hospitals."

"We believe that a key part of TransMedics modus operandi is preventing its procurement surgeons from communicating with recipient surgeons and centers, in order to conceal or overrule their concerns about defective or unusable organs when they arrive at the donor site."

"The CEO of a major OPO stated “their CEO is pretty arrogant...he’s an arrogant prick....I mean, look at what they did...they bought $12-13 million aircraft...it’s just price gouging...it’s unbelievable...it’s not what transplant is meant to be...people don’t like him.”"

"Piperidines and piperazines are great structures, and medicinal chemistry would be a lot poorer without them, but they can set off hERG activity, which can (in some cases) lead to heart rhythm problems, which can (in pretty much all cases) lead to your drug wiping out."

"We unearthed a Schwartz paper from 2001 that includes a table with H3 receptor candidates, including a molecule then named FUB 649 – which we noticed is identical to pitolisant – which of course also means it’s too old to have any intellectual property protection left."

"The feedback was unequivocal that it’s a flop: “the excitement for this is on the wane”; “we were fairly eager and excited...and then quite disappointed”; “I don’t anybody who’s really bullish on it” and that at best they “kind of prescribe a little bit here or there.”"

"Specifically, we have found definitive evidence of INS lending money to startups controlled by INS employees in India, then slowly funneling that initial investment back to INS through a network of related Indian and Asian companies, allowing INS to book it as revenue."

"In other words, similar to what happened in Japan, which Culper Research’s report presented, Archer simply failed to provide their partners with a functioning aircraft, or should we say just an aircraft at all, which led to them cancelling their plans with the company."

"We expose via a forensic in-depth analysis of Goldrone’s public filings, history, locations of operations, product portfolio, customer relations, intellectual property and shareholder complaints that this counterparty seems completely unable to satisfy such a contract."

"Further, appointing Bob Iger as Executive Chairman for 2 years as an outgoing CEO in our view was a very risky corporate governance decision as it set up his successor to fail with the prior CEO constantly watching over their shoulders - this is exactly what transpired"

"“Where were the controls?” — Richard David (referencing McDonald’s Scandal). “Bargain Basement” Contract Smells Fishy — Toronto Star. “Garbage In, Garbage Out” — Toronto Star. “Winning Bidder No Stranger To Controversy” — Toronto Star. “Top Mob Boss” — Peter Scarcella."

"Since going public, they have really cut back on pay and recognition to the employees. More and more talented people are leaving because Carvana refuses to recognize the talent they have and match competing companies of the same size. — Anonymous Employee (Mar 4, 2018)"

"Shareholders question operating controls as recent executive compensation leaves more questions than answers: [R]ecent disclosure indicates the CEO was erroneously overpaid and the error led to a $10MM cash bonus in 2014. — Jonathan Bock, Wells Fargo Research 11/5/2015"

"“The general manager of Shenzhen- and Hong Kong-listed GF Securities Co. Ltd. has resigned following a major financial fraud by one of its clients and the failure of one of its hedge funds, triggering massive losses for the brokerage.” — Caixin Global article, Apr 2020"

"After David Einhorn questioned the company on a conference call, Herbalife revised its disclosure to explain that “Earnings” are before expenses. For at least 10 years, Herbalife had not disclosed this fact to its U.S. distributors — Pershing Square Capital Management."

"「証拠は何一つを見せてくれていません。私としては、ロシアのIsteqから導入したあの光源についてとても懐疑的に思っています。現状ではうまくいくはずがないのです。ただの研究所の試作品であって、実用性に乏しく、概念から一歩踏み出した程度です。周辺のハードウェアもできていますが、最終的には実現可能性はないと思います。厄介です。新しい光源でも多くの問題が発生しているのは当然です。非常に厄介な技術です」 — サイマー（のち、ASML）ともう1社で極端紫外線の光源の開発における中心的な役割を果たした人物で、当該分野における名だたる科学者・専門家"

""I'd like to finish our call this morning with our expectations for the remainder of 2019. We're tightening our guidance range for the full year with revenue between $69 million and $71 million and adjusted EBITDA between $2 million and $4 million." — Q3 2019 Conf Call"