Callouts & quotes from 432+ activist slides

"“Strategy is creating fit among a company’s activities. The success of a strategy depends on doing many things well – not just a few – and integrating among them. If there is no fit among activities, there is no distinctive strategy and little sustainability. Management reverts to the simpler task of overseeing independent functions, and operational effectiveness determines an organization’s relative performance.” — Michael Porter, “What is Strategy?”, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996 Issue"

""We have reviewed the procedures used by the Board of Directors in arriving at its estimate of value of such investments and have inspected underlying documentation, and, in the circumstances, we believe the procedures are reasonable and the documentation appropriate." — Arthur Andersen LLP (previous audit language). "[W]e have written that we believe these allegations are unfounded and uninformed and have attempted to produce as much factual rebuttal as possible." — Merrill Lynch report."

"“I arrived at Siemens at a very difficult moment... Siemens needed to execute more rapidly, and to do that we had to take a hard look at both our organizational structure and whether we had the right people in the right jobs. Within months of my taking over, we replaced about 80% of the top level of executives, 70% of the next level down, and 40% of the level below that.” — Peter Löscher, The CEO of Siemens on Using a Scandal to Drive Change, Harvard Business Review, November 2012"

"We believe the spin-off, which is the result of an in-depth review of strategic alternatives by our Board and management, will allow both companies to enhance value by allocating capital and deploying resources in a more focused way, while preserving and increasing synergies within their businesses. At the same time, it will position the new security company to build scale and make the necessary investments for the future. — Michael W. Lamach, IR Chairman & CEO, Dec. 10, 2012"

""I have been playing this game for a while and was rating it 5/5 at the beginning but it became really unfair for those who do not want to pay... Too big of a difference in gifts between those who pay for the season pass and the others (before that, we still had a bonus at each level, then it went down to 1 bonus every 3 levels and now 1 bonus every 6 levels...) Moreover, XP points aren't calculated based on the ranking anymore, it's lame" — Salomé Destal (Google Play Review)"

"Let's now review our recent acquisitions. First off, let me say that I'm particularly pleased with the progress we have made in 2022 in becoming the undisputed leader of our industry. We have continued to be active and disciplined on the acquisition front and completed 6 transactions, adding key expertise in high growth sectors such as environment and water, while expanding our offering to clients in the government space amongst others — CEO Year End 2022 Call"

"“highlighted with apology this inconsistency [that] arose due to statistician error,” — Bioprojet. “vehemently agreed with the agency about the need to prespecify primary and secondary endpoints.” — Bioprojet. “sponsor acknowledged the errors and rectified the efficacy tables...this did not change the overall conclusion but took arduous effort from the statistical reviewer to make sure the sponsor presented accurate analysis results.” — FDA Reviewer."

""The incredible multi-use spray lubricant that's TWICE AS GOOD!" — Justice Brothers; "This is the best penetrating oil I have ever used." — Amazon Reviewer; "Friends don't let friends use wd40." — Amazon Reviewer; "JB-80 is twice as good. It's teflon based, last twice as long and viscosity is thicker. It's much better." — Hardware Store Owner; "It's like an LED light blub. Higher investment up front but last more than twice as long." — Customer"

"It is getting worse and worse!!! Everything was fine at the beginning, the rewards were interesting, there were regular quests (and different ones). The articles were a lot cheaper. I went from 300,000 (in-game) cash to 60,000 in a few weeks without changing the way I play. I sent e-mails but nobody wants to tell me why. It is a shame because when I will be out of cash, I will not be able to play anymore. — Mélissa (Google Play Review)"

""As part of its lawsuit, Boots Capital sought . . . to object to the appointment of our new CEO Steven Moskowitz to the Board and its resulting expansion of the Board" — Crown Castle Inc. Investor Presentation. "Boots has interfered with the Fiber review at multiple stages through unneeded & baseless litigation . . . by seeking to keep our CEO, a critical input in the review, off the Board" — Crown Castle Inc. Investor Presentation."

"Regarding your question 2.5: The freeXmedia transaction was reviewed in great detail at that time both internally and externally. We have commissioned appraisal reports et al and sought legal advice for the acquisition of freeXmedia. Neither the external consultants nor the supervisory board or shareholders objected to the transaction. We thus have no reason to assume there was anything unlawful about the transaction. — Dr. Metzner"

""I used a bunch of products like Hada Labo premium, Eucerin and La Roche Posay. Nothing helped until I decided to try out this one." — Amazon (US customer review). "This lotion is a saviour to all dry skin beauties... None of the Indian creams have worked for me, Nivea, Dove etc." — Amazon (India customer review). "This product is really hydrating... Also really good as a night time mask" — Lazada (Philippines customer review)."

"CEO Fayer’s businesses have each come under scrutiny. His current biography says he founded Pivotal Payments (now Nuvei) in 2003. However, it doesn’t talk about the fact that his Company PaySystems was still operating in 2004. PaySystems ended poorly with consumers putting up websites such as PaySystemsFraud.com. Even today, industry reviews claim that Nuvei is nothing more than a continuation of Pivotal’s old shady practices."

""We have identified and are currently reviewing certain customer transactions for which revenue was recognized and reported in the consolidated financial statements of Stratus Technologies International, S.à r.l. for fiscal 2004 and the first quarter of fiscal 2005... the consolidated financial statements... should not be relied upon as an accurate reflection of our financial results for these periods." — Stratus Technologies"

""We have no intention to fill Steve's job at this point," Axelrod said in a telephone interview this morning. "I'll take the time to review the organizational structure to determine our needs to grow from a $2 billion company to a $4 billion one within two to three years, and so Steve's job may or may not be filled. We are certainly not going to fill it today." — Axelrod, Home Textiles Today, Feb 5, 2003"

"Operating systems dated — Glassdoor Review (Jun 18, 2019). Computer programs and processes are antiquated, Very little support when it comes to fixing system concerns — Glassdoor Review (Aug 13, 2018). Some growing pains but moving to SAP and in to a new building will help! — Glassdoor Review (May 4, 2017). Outdated computer programs, but SAP implementation has begun — Glassdoor Review (Apr 18, 2018)."

"We do not have sufficient, qualified personnel to prepare and review complex technical accounting issues and effectively design and implement systems and processes that allow for the timely production of accurate financial information in accordance with internal financial reporting timelines to support the current size and complexity (e.g., acquisitions, divestitures and financings) of the Company."

"It's not just Amazons Frontline ; it looks like Frontline from a lot of stores for some reason is NOT working now! Always used Frontline for years , now I ended up at the vet to get something that really works now Nexguard! I gave them a one star for the past ! Never again ! Fleas are no joke , about lost my mind with the fleas when I finally realized it wasn't working ! — Amazon Customer Review"

""Audit-Related Fees include professional services performed by the Company for its clients' benefit on the design and/or effectiveness of the Company's internal controls relative to the services the Company performs for its clients, and reviews of compliance with performance criteria established by the Company for the services the Company performs for its clients." — Proxy Statement Language"

"“The status quo is no longer acceptable! The Board must steer and oversee a review of the operating performance and hold management accountable for improvement. I welcome the opportunity to roll up my sleeves and work side-by-side with Phillips 66 employees to drive improvement - we need their collective knowledge and buy in to quickly turn the operating performance around.” — Brian Coffman"

"Based on our review of LinkedIn and other sources, we believe a large volume of CCTs in the US are located in remote locations. Not only does this suggest the opportunity for questionable reimbursement practices on the part of iRhythm, but we believe it also calls into question iRhythm management’s numerous claims related to the build-out of its CCT “Center of Excellence” in San Francisco."

"Playtika indirectly puts a lot of pressure on and gives incentives to the studio to monetize their game very aggressively this is immediately noticeable in the player reviews, all saying that the game is very addictive but at a certain point, it is not possible to keep unlocking new designs and progressing without spending a lot of money, making the game "boring" for most users very fast."

"The status quo is no longer acceptable! The Board must steer and oversee a review of the operating performance and hold management accountable for improvement. I welcome the opportunity to roll up my sleeves and work side-by-side with Phillips 66 employees to drive improvement - we need their collective knowledge and buy in to quickly turn the operating performance around. — Brian Coffman"

"During 2015, the Company identified a material weakness related to the process to prepare and review its quarterly and annual income tax provision. The material weakness relates to deficiencies in the design and operation of controls in response to the increased complexity in the legal entity structure of the business following the Enterprise acquisition. — Zebra Technologies 2015 10-K"

"Our interactions with a significant quorum of other shareholders holding BHP shares worth tens of billions of US$ have revealed extremely broad and deep-rooted support for pro-active steps to be taken by management to achieve an optimal value outcome for BHP’s petroleum business following an in-depth, open and timely independent review, with full disclosure of the review results"

"Fun place, poor leadership, male dominated... There's a mold- white men and young women. Lacks diversity in tight and leadership. Unsupportive over the pandemic in various ways... Advice to Management: Rob and the leadership team lack empathy and diversity - which is oh so needed especially during a pandemic. Get on board mentality or else. — Glassdoor Review (January 14, 2022)"

"After reviewing the details provided, we regret to inform you that we are unfortunately unable to confirm this booking. In accordance with our internal policies and our responsibility regarding the accommodation of minors, as the information currently provided does not allow us to verify this requirement, we are not in a position to proceed with the reservation as requested."

"Experts question the claim by Quantumscape, backed by $500 million from Bill Gates, Silicon Valley venture capitalists, and VW — Marker. But most battery researchers don't believe it — The Mobilitist. But some observers aren't convinced that QuantumScape's lithium-metal batteries will power cars and trucks on the road as soon as the company claims. — MIT Technology Review."

"Based on Spruce Point's forensic review of MDA, it appears the Company was not only struggling to cope with the levered acquisition of Space Systems Loral (SSL), but also using aggressive financial presentation and accounting methods to deflect its underlying problems of order declines as new high-throughput satellites and low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellations come online."

"It appears that no matter the auditor in 2017 or 2022, there's a consistent warning that a critical audit matter relates to the carrying value of the assets. The current auditor is evaluating the historical EBITDA projections vs. actual. Based on our review, management was overly optimistic about access to milk for production, and EBITDA margins have materially declined."

"The previous study covered MAUDE data through 2021. Our review from 2018 to the present shows Aquablation has resulted in 24 deaths since FDA approval. Moreover, FDA adverse event data suggests Procept's transfer of manufacturing operations to a new location in Q3 2023 resulted in above-trend equipment malfunctions, suggesting poor execution at patients' expense."

""Camera Uploads making duplicates (iOS)." — Reddit User; "I'm having trouble viewing previews in Win10 on some computers that use Dropbox Smart Sync" — Reddit User; "Dropbox support an utter disappointment with 88.4.172 issues -- they've just closed my case because of my OS" — Reddit User; "88.4.172 Wreaking Havoc (Sync Issues) and Dropbox Support" — Reddit User"

""This s**t is magic (...) It's so healing, nourishing, and moisturizing." — MakeupAlley (Curél, USA); "This product is so innovative." — Try&Review (Freeplus, Singapore); "Would eat it if I could. Gorgeous! A lovely treat to use." — Cult Beauty (Molton Brown, UK); "I love this sunscreen! This is the first sunscreen that I wear everyday." — Kokoro (Bioré, Japan)"

"Sell-side promoters are divided on Zebra, and there is even one analyst with an underweight opinion and market perform rating and a $290 per share price target. We believe that even that is overly optimistic because analysts fail to conduct a rigorous forensic review of Zebra's recent acquisitions and financial reporting which suggests more issues lie ahead."

"The Internal Audit team as directed by and under the supervision of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (the "Audit Committee") uncovered no evidence that supports the allegations mentioned. The Audit Committee has reviewed the result of the investigation and concurred with the conclusion that the allegations were baseless. — TAL Education Group"

"Once again, we urge Glencore’s Board of Directors to take all the necessary steps to (1) separate the thermal coal business, in order to accelerate Glencore’s repositioning as a leading pure player in metals, which are at the very core of the green economy transition, and (2) undertake a review of the strategic options for Glencore’s holding in Viterra."

"Of the 2 other deaths, one was a 62-year old who died of pulmonary edema and a 38-year old who committed suicide. Although the reviewer indicated “no clear association” with pitolisant, we note an alarming number of similar adverse events since approval, per the FAERS database, whether pulmonary edema or psychiatric ones such as suicidal fixation."

"Skepticism among scientists makes it "really hard" to get the machine’s data through peer review, forcing "absolutely crazy" amounts of extra validation; struggle to publish papers given lack of trust by academics; vicious cycle as institutions can’t afford the machine, which limits the number of papers; BLI cutting themselves “off at the knees.”"

"1. Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities 2. Strategy requires you to make trade-offs in competing – to choose what not to do 3. Strategy involves creating “fit” among a company’s activities — Michael E. Porter, “What is Strategy?”, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1996 Issue"

"“No offense, but we don’t really care what you think,” he says. “The people we care about are our customers. They’ve seen the data, they’ve run the tests in their own lab, they’ve seen it works, and as a result they’re putting in massive bets on this company. VW has gone all in.” — Jagdeep Singh, CEO of QuantumScape (via MIT Technology Review)"

"CEO Wilson formed the Cuattro Foundation on 12/27/18, about a month after the November 2018 transaction with Heska. Given Wilson's history of related party transactions (read the Heska proxy related to the Cuattro Veterinary deal), we would love to review the foundation's activities, but it hasn't filed a Form 990 (as required) since 2018."

"Focus is solely on revenue. Customer satisfaction isn't acknowledged. Shove integrations down clients throats as fast as possible even if it is sloppy. Company is realigned nearly monthly. I had 6 managers in 12 months, 3 of which never met with me. Company is cut throat and is laying off and firing their best employees. — Glassdoor Review"

"This is one of the most crooked companies I've ever done business with. I made the mistake of buying two cars from them, and they require a GPS unit to be installed in the cars, which is fine, except their hack mechanic that installed them caused a short in one of the cars, and they refused to fix it without charging me. — Yelp Reviewer"

"[...] the Board regularly reviews its leadership structure and considers this to be a key component of fulfilling its fiduciary duties to our shareholders. Importantly, the Board has chosen to maintain flexibility in its leadership structure and has not mandated the separation of the Chairman and CEO roles — BlackRock Proxy Filing 2024"

"results from sites in Russia...cannot be trusted — Study of foreign trials cited in Petitioner's report. "disturbing and it's good to get it published...offshoring for financial reasons is bad because it raises risk of malfeasance." — FDA Commissioner Robert Califf. "The primary EDS endpoint, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale" — FDA review."

"[...] the Board regularly reviews its leadership structure and considers this to be a key component of fulfilling its fiduciary duties to our shareholders. Importantly, the Board has chosen to maintain flexibility in its leadership structure and has not mandated the separation of the Chairman and CEO roles — BlackRock Proxy Filing 2024"

"Based on a survey conducted by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario ("FSRA"), 62% of WFG agents reviewed were cited for contraventions of the insurance act with the most common contravention being a lack of disclosure on which insurers the agent were representing and insufficient disclosures on conflicts of interest."

""We have implemented a zero-based budgeting process by brand with a sophisticated ROI analysis looking at every single piece of our marketing mix to ensure we are spending money only where we are getting the best returns." — Tony Hooper, EVP of Global Commercial Operations at Amgen, Amgen 2014 Business Review Meeting, October 28, 2014"

"Overall, a strong culture of fear. The culture and company practices promote individual, rather than team, achievement, motivating selfish choices and combative relationships between coworkers. Public shaming is common practice, and team leadership turns a blind eye to disrespectful behavior between colleagues. — Glassdoor.com review"

"The Applicant analyzed the effect of the 20 mg dose compared to placebo and the 40 mg dose compared to placebo in the stable dose period. The relative risk of cataplexy events in the 20 mg dosing group was 0.392 (95% CI [0.270, 0.571]; p < 0.0001) and 0.623 in the 40 mg dosing group (95% CI [0.510, 0.761]; p < 0.0001). — FDA Review"

"The Meridian Speedway ... is a corridor that serves NS' intermodal segment and goes between the Southeast and the central Texas market and the Southeast and Southwest markets in California and Arizona ... NS stressed the importance of the corridor to its business when STB was reviewing the merger between CP and KCS. — FreightWaves"

"THIS GENERAL INVESTMENT FUND RISK DISCLOSURE IS NOT COMPLETE. THE ABOVE SUMMARY IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF THE RISKS AND OTHER IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES INVOLVED IN INVESTING IN PSH AND IS SUBJECT TO THE MORE COMPLETE DISCLOSURES CONTAINED IN PERSHING SQUARE'S FORM ADV PART 2A AND IN PSH'S PROSPECTUS, WHICH MUST BE REVIEWED CAREFULLY."

"THIS GENERAL INVESTMENT FUND RISK DISCLOSURE IS NOT COMPLETE. THE ABOVE SUMMARY IS NOT A COMPLETE LIST OF THE RISKS AND OTHER IMPORTANT DISCLOSURES INVOLVED IN INVESTING IN PSH AND IS SUBJECT TO THE MORE COMPLETE DISCLOSURES CONTAINED IN PERSHING SQUARE'S FORM ADV PART 2A AND IN PSH'S PROSPECTUS, WHICH MUST BE REVIEWED CAREFULLY."

"“The Sponsor evaluated the effect of pitolisant on the QT interval in two studies (Studies P09-11 and P14-05) [...] Study P09-11 was a total QT (TQT) study that evaluated doses up to 120 mg (single dose). Study P14-05 was a single ascending dose (SAD) study that evaluated doses up to 240 mg.” — FDA CDER Clinical Review, Dec 2018"

"On a periodic basis, management reviews the costs incurred to date and the estimated costs to complete for each project to determine whether the amount recognized as costs and anticipated profits in excess of billings is an accurate estimate of the amount that the Corporation has earned on its projects. — WSP 2022 Annual Report"

""The thresholds were revised by the Human Resources and Compensation Committee in the context of its annual executive compensation review conducted at the beginning of each fiscal year to take into account, among other elements, the fact that the base for the calculation is growing every year." — FY15 Management Proxy Circular"

"Spruce Point fact-checked C3's claim from a May 23, 2018 press release announcing a partnership with Intel. We observe that on the same day C3 announced the alliance, Intel also issued a press release about enterprise AI, without referencing C3.(1) A review of Intel's website suggests limited evidence of a deep partnership."

"Activist Investor Irenic Builds Stake in Forward Air — THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Activist Ancora Pushes Forward Air to Pursue Sale — THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Alta Fox Calls for Immediate Strategic Review at Forward Air Corporation — Alta Fox. Forward Air retains investment bankers to sell company, sources say — FREIGHTWAVES."

""But it’s the interviews — watching patients recount agonies they’ve suffered from poorly researched and regulated medical devices — that are hardest to sit through…The Bleeding Edge” isn’t an anti-medical film, but a look at calamities caused when the obsession for profit overwhelms an industry." — New York Times review"

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