Callouts & quotes from 10,384+ activist slides

"“We remain steadfastly invested in Disney’s long-term success...” — Disney Letter to Shareholders, 02/01/24; “The Disney Board... [is] comprised of engaged, diverse and dynamic leaders whose skillsets are closely aligned with the key drivers of our business...” — Disney Letter to Shareholders, 02/01/24; “[We have] a strong Board focused on the long-term performance of the company, strategic growth initiatives, the succession planning process, and increasing shareholder value.” — Disney Press Release, 01/16/24"

"“Well, a couple of things. I remember that diazoxide trials a few years ago failed...these are not well-recognized journals or high-quality data points. I find it very interesting that there may be some internal inconsistencies that I am unaware of, and I’m now quite curious about finding out more of this background to help me understand the right thing to do for my patients based on primary endpoint analysis, not just on marketing messages.” — Endocrinologist with academic and community hospital affiliations"

""If you use the hybrid solver, the hybrid solver has to compose QUBO problems... you can substitute quantum with classical and still get better results. So, the entire hybrid framework could be beneficial, but it’s not because of quantum, it’s because of its construct, and the quantum part can be replaced with classical." — Former D-Wave data scientist; "D-Wave is selling bullsh-t" — Executive at large multi-national technology and logistics company, former professor of quantum physics and quantum algorithms."

"“Ok, firstly I just mentioned that we are doing business globally we are selling products to different countries and we need to make sure we comply with tax laws regulations in all countries including China, Macau, other countries including US, UK. A lot of countries globally and if some of our transactions are conducted through Macau and we do make sure these transfer pricings are not in breach of any regulation of any countries, not just Macau. And we from time to time will arrange tax health checks” — CFO"

"“The AI stuff where it learns, that was already happening... It's all hocus-pocus. From a hospital system, it's not worth the extra $100,000. It's not worth the extra cost of your disposables, and it doesn't really change anything.”; “They are forcing the physicians to input the data themselves with the new HYDROS system... It's probably going to slow down the procedure by about 10 minutes a case... it's really annoying... A little bait and switch.” — Tegus Interview with Private Practice Urologist, Dec 2024"

"“On Slide 25, you can see the evolution of our ion trap and the vacuum chamber. In 2016, this is a vacuum chamber found today in many academic settings. The 2020 device is our new 32 qubit system, and about the size of a deck of cards...But by 2023, we expect that much of the optics, the ion trap, and the vacuum can all be blown onto a single chip, and then we network them together with an optical cable; another area where IonQ’s founders have already shown in working in their labs.” — IonQ CEO Peter Chapman"

""The study focuses on preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy, or PGT-A, which screens embryos for chromosomal abnormalities that could keep them from implanting. The diagnostic tool has been controversial for decades, since no rigorous studies have conclusively proven the test improves the odds of having a baby... Clinicians and researchers told STAT say they believe most providers have good intentions, but they are still offering patients an unproven, expensive, and possibly risky procedure." — STAT"

""Some companies do not include overdrafts in the definition of cash; instead, they include it in accounts payable. Consequently, the company treats the overdraft as an operating activity (change in accounts payable). So, the company includes the negative cash as a change in a liability in the operating section of the cash flow statement. (Some accountants treat overdrafts as a financing activity, but they clear quickly. Therefore, an operating activity classification is more appropriately.)" — CPA Hall Talk"

"“The gray line is something every lab can produce, and I would say it’s the real data because you can clearly see the data points. The blue line, I think, is wishful. It’s not real. There's no variation in the data. I cannot see any data points. It’s just a randomly drawn line. It's not actual data. That's my interpretation for slide 17. If they were going to peer review like in science journals or publications, a reviewer like me would definitely ask for the original data set.” — Leading solid-state expert"

"“The gray line is something every lab can produce, and I would say it’s the real data because you can clearly see the data points. The blue line, I think, is wishful. It’s not real. There’s no variation in the data. I cannot see any data points. It’s just a randomly drawn line. It’s not actual data. That’s my interpretation for slide 17. If they were going to peer review like in science journals or publications, a reviewer like me would definitely ask for the original data set.” — Leading solid-state expert"

"“[Unity®] will provide everything a legal practice needs….in one single destination. The global nature of the platform ensures that users in all markets benefit from the same one-stop user experience in every market.” — Dye & Durham Press Release (September 2023); “Matt is just slapping the Unity® name on a bunch of products he bought. There is no real integration. These are different applications that were put together to a login page under the Unity® name.” — Former employee of Dye & Durham – October 2024"

"Under the terms of the amended MIPA, it was agreed with the Sellers, that (i) revenue and EBITDA of Pub Ocean will be attributed towards Sellers' revenue and EBITDA targets under the MIPA with Perion; and (ii) Sellers will bear 40% of the cost of milestone payments that are ultimately payable to Pub Ocean under the Asset Purchase Agreement (as defined below), which will be paid solely by deductions from their own earn-out payments and certain escrowed amounts. — Perion 20-F Reports and Spruce Point analysis"

""The timing and acceptance of Element AIM is a key assumption in our model...I could tell you that it's about less than 5% of our total revenue projected for 2021. As we move into a global launch in '22 and '23, we're still targeting about a 10% annual installed base, but on our global customer profile, and obviously, with that would come a significant contribution to revenue in those two years, exceeding 10% and exceeding 15% just based on those targeted percentages." — Wilson (Investor Day, November 2020)"

"“And just quickly on the whole B2B side partnerships, is that all, I mean, that's sort of a money losing business. What's the strategy there?” — Spruce Point Question. “It's definitely a money losing business. Caryn wants to be ubiquitous... I don't think companies are willing to pay a dollar a person or a dollar a transaction... I think when I was there, they were really focused on sports and sports had no margins, and we actually paid the sports stadiums for the right to be there.” — Former CLEAR Employee"

""To that point on Slide 13, we are moving toward a bioplastic world even faster than we projected 6 months ago... Upon completion, we will be in a much better position to serve our growing order commitments from customers." — Stephen Croskrey, CEO Danimer Scientific; "Yes. It's -- in the early years, I would say it's roughly 10% under contract... And so we -- while we don't have offtake agreements yet with those customers, we have forecasts and plans are in place." — Stephen Croskrey, CEO Danimer Scientific"

""One of the reasons I left, and I think is probably the biggest risk to the business is companies like Microsoft and Amazon doing more and more business direct with the government... I doubt Microsoft or Amazon are going to be subcontractors if they can do it directly." — Former Leidos C-Suite Business Executive. "The decision by the Department of Defense to go with Microsoft Azure versus AWS is really immaterial to us. We won't be affected by that decision in any way." — CEO Krone, Q3'2019 Conference Call."

"“Across the three machines, we’d have daily issues. Some consumable parts within, such as mirrors and the like, that when they were approaching their end of life, we’d see an uptake in issues, but it wouldn’t warrant shutting the tool down just because the end goal was trying to maintain 24/7 operation based on customer needs. So, there was a balance between sacrificing a little bit of speed and functionality for maintaining uptime.” — Former Lasertec field service engineer who worked in the Intel mask shop"

"“The businesses that will remain in our portfolio fit very well within our core capabilities. We understand the consumers of these businesses. These businesses fit our brand and product model, are sold primarily in our core channels of distribution and we can source them more effectively and efficiently than third parties. These businesses have proven track records. The more focused portfolio will be much simpler to manage, to operate and to execute in store.” — P&G Presentation at CAGNY, February 19, 2015"

"(1) A local planning authority ... may make a change to any planning permission ... relating to land in their area if they are satisfied that the change is not material. (2) In deciding whether a change is material, a local planning authority must have regard to the effect of the change ... on the planning permission as originally granted. (3) The power conferred by subsection (1) includes power – (a) to impose new conditions; (b) to remove or alter existing conditions. — Town and Country Planning Act 1990"

""There aren't any other companies operating the way that Nevro was. There were enough people that would have known that it couldn't have happened without the head office knowing... Obviously, they were used as sacrificial lambs... [The Switzerland program] is totally crazy." — Former Nevro executive; "Usually the physicians, like in Germany, 85% of them are all university doctors... I could see something like that happening. That would be pretty easy to happen in that environment." — Former Nevro executive"

"I don't think there are many COOs of publicly traded companies, who could just sit down here and tell things in such a believable and sympathetic fashion. I can only say – for us, from the Rockstars perspective, it is pretty clear that what you are doing is exactly that – being rock stars. You simply say, "Okay, a certain amount of anarchy is unavoidable. We'll go straight in. We believe in what we are doing. We have a completely different way of thinking as all the other players in the market." — P. W. M."

"Included in transaction revenues was the impact of a newly negotiated contract with our Payments partner at Upserve and ShopKeep. This new contract did two things, provide us with better economics than the businesses we're achieving on their own and also brought us better control over the end customer relationships. As a result of this we were able to realize an uplift in revenue of approximately $7 million in the quarter and greater gross margins as well, this is a great news story. — CFO Nussey, May 2021"

"“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"

"So, you're going to attract a lot of attention from Chinese companies that would love to come in with like a substantially lower price. And quite frankly, they're glad to get 20 or 30 points margins. And their costs are a lot cheaper because it's all developed and built in China. So, the threat to Zebra is really there's like a whole pack of like Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers nipping at their heels from the bottom of the market with lower cost solutions. — Former Senior Product Manager at Zebra Technologies"

"A number of Elliott's nominees have close personal ties to Mr. Goff, including decades of direct work experience. Much like everything related to Elliott's Amber Energy, these relationships call into question Elliott's nominees' independence. Given Amber Energy's role in the campaign against Phillips 66 and Mr. Goff's highly misleading public solicitation, should shareholders have concerns about the honesty of Elliott's disclosures or the independence of Elliott's nominees? — Phillips 66's April 24 Letter"

"A number of Elliott's nominees have close personal ties to Mr. Goff, including decades of direct work experience. Much like everything related to Elliott's Amber Energy, these relationships call into question Elliott's nominees' independence. Given Amber Energy's role in the campaign against Phillips 66 and Mr. Goff's highly misleading public solicitation, should shareholders have concerns about the honesty of Elliott's disclosures or the independence of Elliott's nominees? — Phillips 66's April 24 Letter"

"“One study demonstrated 2–6 times higher incidence of diabetes mellitus than expected in the normal general population”; “international cohort studies indicate that GH therapy may increase the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in children and adolescents with predisposing risk factors, therefore it is prudent to monitor possible negative consequences on glucose metabolism during and after GH administration.” — Effects of growth hormone on glucose metabolism and insulin resistance in human (2017 paper)"

"“Leverage Ratio” means, as of the last day of any Test Period, the ratio of (a) Total Indebtedness as of such date to (b) Consolidated EBITDA for such Test Period; provided that, for purposes of determining Total Indebtedness, at any time after the definitive agreement for any Material Specified Acquisition shall have been executed, any Acquisition Indebtedness with respect to such Material Specified Acquisition shall, unless such Material Specified Acquisition shall have been consummated, be disregarded."

""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 for V116. The probability of even broader superiority in Phase III (starting in H1) is now much higher. The ~$8B market could grow to over $13B by 2027, and we believe VAX-31 should become the leader and generate significant strategic interest." — TD Cowen, September 2024"

"On May 3, 2022, the Company's board of directors amended the share repurchase program adopted on March 4, 2022 to increase the aggregate amount the Company is permitted to repurchase from an aggregate amount of up to $150m to an aggregate amount of up to $600m of the Company's common stock. Additionally on May 3, 2022, the Company's board of directors adopted a dividend policy. Pursuant to this policy, the board intends to pay aggregate cash dividends of $1.50 per share of common stock per year. — Source"

"The discretionary components of our business, have been challenged by cautious consumer spending on big ticket items like swimming pools and outdoor living projects resulting in sales of building materials declining 11% for the year compared to the same period in 2023. and We now believe that new pool units could be down 15% to 20% in 2024, and remodeling activity for 2024 may be down as much as 15% compared to our previous estimate of flat to down 10% compared to 2023. — Pool Corp Warning, June 24, 2024"

"In late 2011, fraud researcher Jon Carnes, who has among the best track records in the industry in identifying irregularities with China-based companies, issued a report on Silvercorp that alleged, among other things: The company’s technical reports were based on a 2-man team that used resource estimates provided by Silvercorp and who hadn’t visited the site in years. The quality and resource estimates of its mines were overstated. That a related-party transaction had enriched a relative of CEO Rui Feng."

"“They come in and say that they’re in it to increase the number of available organs transplanted to save lives - all of that stuff. We might have an organ donor in Reno... They will just flat-out say no... they will blanketly refuse to move... there are these hidden—for the transplant centers, it’s all these mystery fees that you don’t really know how many flights you’re going to pay for until they tell you how many flights they’ve used.” — Executive at a leading West Coast OPO, longtime industry veteran"

"“Yeah. They’re wondering - should we try to switch directions? Well, they’ve stopped enrolling. The concern is okay now what other drug — because it's been around for a long time now, it's got approval now. There must be enough concern potentially, that there may be something else out there that still could help us better. What other companies, what other drugs should we think about pursuing for treating Prader-Willi Syndrome?” — Trial investigator and physician; one of the leading KOL’s in the PWS field"

"I think there's a huge risk here to Lasertec, if machines are piling up and KLA is going around reassuring people that if you can hold off until mid-2025, we will have a system commercially available... They obviously will. And Lasertec could be caught with inventory they're going to have to significantly mark down... they would end up having to impair... could put a lot of pressure on them, which would probably require an asset write-down on the part of Lasertec. — Longtime executive at Global Foundries"

""In a somewhat surprising tactic, PSX management talked down the potential [sum-of-the-parts] upside (i.e., [stating that the Company is] fairly valued)...." — Piper Sandler, March 2025; "The biggest issue for Phillips, in my opinion, is that they are not at all focused on creating shareholder value. They are focused on status quo." — Phillips 66 Shareholder A; "If I were being harsh, and I think it is appropriate, I would almost say that they are just trying to coast along." — Phillips 66 Shareholder B"

"“They show a little membrane, and people are flexing it between the blue glove. That membrane is the solid electrolyte. They've got to scale that from that little credit card that he's pinching in his fingers to sheets, literally hundreds and hundreds of meters long, and being able to produce that all day long every day. There's an area scale up. And they have to be able to do that defect-free. Any hole or any crack in that membrane is going to be a place where the battery will short.” — Former employee"

"Multi-level distribution companies shall not represent, directly or indirectly, that participants in a multi-level marketing program will earn or receive any stated gross or net amount, or represent in any manner, the past earnings of participants . . . Multi-level distribution companies shall not represent, directly or indirectly, that additional distributors or sales personnel are easy to secure or retain, or that all or substantially all participants will succeed. — Massachusetts and Wyoming statutes"

"For example, we face increasing competition from entrepreneurs such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, who have been or are in the process of developing liquid fuel propulsion capabilities which are primarily focused on the development of space propulsion systems for heavy lift launch vehicles. These new entrepreneurs have signaled their intent to compete primarily on price and are therefore bringing pressure to bear on existing cost paradigms and our manufacturing methodologies — Aerojet Rocketdyne Risk Factor"

"“When we use it, those are kids that are on high rates of intravenous fluids already, because their blood sugar is not being stabilized on a normal amount of IV fluid that you might give someone, even a little baby size. Because they're on such high rates, when we write for diazoxide, we always write for a diuretic at the same time, because we've seen heart failure on this drug a whole bunch of times. We're definitely cautious about it.” — Pediatric oncologist, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP)"

""The author's allegations regarding our loyalty program are the unfortunate result of not understanding our business. The author does not at the least take due care to quote the correct financial figures, as the author claims that 'as of Q2 2019, trailing twelve-month loyalty program expenses totaled $701.8 million, or 100.2% of its SEC reported revenue', while our reported figures were RMB 2,074 million (or approximately USD 300 million), or 43% of SEC reported revenue." — QTT's response to our report."

"We're really going to try to get the algorithm right to cut where we can and not necessarily do things the same way. As I mentioned, we're also using technology to reduce some of our operating costs, and that gives us a little bit of headroom also to absorb some inflation. But we're really trying to use our heads here to come up with a way to kind of mitigate some of these challenges that we have. — Christine McCarthy, The Walt Disney Company – Senior EVP & CFO, November 10, 2021 – FY 2021 Earnings Call"

"We arrive at the start of the 2018 MotoGP season with high expectations. Today we are enthusiastically celebrating the presentation of our team in such a prestigious location as Lamborghini and with the welcome participation of Ducati. A great Italian event that we hope will be a good omen starting from the first race in Qatar next Sunday. We start a fascinating new adventure with Alma and I would like to thank Luigi Scavone for the trust with which he shared our project. — Paolo Campinoti, Generac EVP"

""We have had this strategic transformation... underway really going back... since I became Chairman... In fact, Elliott got on the train after it really left the station... This is a culmination of a multi-year strategy..." — John Hess, March 2013; "Absolutely, that is the correct understanding of my remarks, that the major moves to reshape our portfolio in terms of divestiture to complete the strategic reshaping of our portfolio, will have been completed by the end of 2013." — John Hess, January 2013."

"“WindMark Beach is situated on approximately 2,020 acres in Gulf County near the town of Port St. Joe and includes approximately 15,000 feet of beachfront. This beachfront resort destination is planned to include approximately 1,662 units at full build-out, together with 75,000 square feet of commercial space. Construction to realign approximately four miles of U.S. Highway 98 away from the beachfront was completed in 2006. Sales in the second phase of WindMark Beach began in 2006.” — 2006 10-K, page 8"

"4x more customers are adopting aluminum wheels than they were 15 years ago...that's pretty good, right? What's really good about that chart is the aluminum wheel cost is about twice what a steel wheel does. So if you're back into the math, it says that only 20% of the aluminum wheels in that market or the wheels in that market are aluminum today. — Tim Myers, EVP TCS, 2016 Investor Day; And that market continues to grow at least at the speed of 10%, 15%. — Jose Drummond, Fmr. EVP TCS, 2015 Investor Day"

"An increase in transportation costs could have an adverse effect on our ability to increase or to maintain production on a profit-making basis and could therefore adversely affect our revenues and earnings. Because transportation costs represent a significant portion of the total cost of coal for our customers, increases in transportation costs could also reduce overall demand for coal or make our coal production less competitive than coal produced from other sources or other regions. — AMR Disclosures"

"“In terms of margins, the accounting change really accounts for the shift that you're seeing. So we have not revised up or revised down our expectations” — DuPont Management. “...Safety and Protection margin [targets] that you show are 21% to 23% which is what they were 18 months ago. But you now exclude your pension cost...[which was] more than 500 basis points.” — JP Morgan analyst. “...You're right, Jeff. The margin is lower between 400 and 500 basis points from that standpoint” — DuPont Management."

"“The company sells constant-speed drive shaft, car wheel units and drive shaft and other products. Revenue recognition for domestic sales meet the following conditions: the product has been delivered to the company according to the contract, and the amount of product’s sales revenue is determined, the payment has been collected or a payment voucher has been obtained, the associated economic benefits will likely flow to the company, the costs related to the products can be reliably measured.” — Wanxiang"

"“the problem is that the national registry, the UNOS database, doesn’t collect information about...the perfusion time or some of the parameters we think are very important, like donor warm ischemia time.” — KOL; “more than 50% [of donor livers] are over 30 minutes” and that “we’ve waited two hours...we wait 45 minutes” — TransMedics’ highest-volume user; “the rationale is you had a significant increase in the rate of complications...where the liver just doesn’t work.” — TransMedics’ highest-volume user"

"“RUN may, without your consent, assign, lease, sublease, or transfer the Solar System and this Agreement, along with the rights and obligations hereunder, to any third party (each, an “Assignee”) for any purpose, including without limitation, collection of unpaid amounts, financing of the Solar System’s installation, or in the event of acquisition, corporate reorganization, merger or sale of substantially all of RUN’s assets to another entity.” — RUN BrightSave PPA Agreement Dated November 2017, p. 12"

"The Company paid: MORE compensation to its top officers than the median compensation for 28 similarly sized companies with a median enterprise value of $1 billion; MORE than a sector group of 23 large consumer discretionary companies with a median enterprise value of $1.2 billion; and MORE than a sub-industry group of 9 specialty stores companies. The CEO was paid above the median CEO in these peer groups. Overall, the Company PAID MORE than its peers, BUT PERFORMED WORSE than its peers. — Glass Lewis"

""We're realists about the business and about the impact technology has had on how product is distributed, marketed, and consumed... All of this has and will continue to put pressure on the multi-channel ecosystem, which has seen a decline in overall households as well as growth in so-called skinny or cable-light packages. ESPN has experienced some modest sub losses, although those have been less than reported by one of the prominent research firms." — Robert A. Iger, Disney CEO & Director, August 2015"

"“bizarre that they would take on such a cost for convenience...you can’t have outrageous organ acquisition charges...for the surgeon’s convenience.” He doubted the legality of surgeon’s simply fabricating a clinical indication – “they can pump anything and say, look, I was wondering about the functionality of the lung, and I need to check it for a couple of hours...I don’t think anybody would say that out loud.” — Longtime executive at major OPO (organ procurement organization), and on UNOS committees"

"Moyi, which is owned solely by Chinese shareholders, is granted an Internet Content Provider license (“ICP License”). Businesses in China that are engaged in the business of Internet information services, including online advertisement and e-commerce services, are required to obtain an ICP License. Due to Chinese regulatory restrictions on foreign investments in the Internet sector, we operate our marketing platform and conduct our business through Moyi pursuant to the Moyi Agreements. — Moxian's 10-K"

"This was why in February 2018 we made the decision to acquire Dianguan which then became our in-house advertising platform. At the time of this acquisition, Dianguan had built up a good technical base as it owned several intellectual properties, which were valuable assets for us to further develop our proprietary advertising platform related technology. The acquisition decision was made after thorough due diligence, the purchase consideration of RMB15 million was supported by a valuation report. — QTT"

""U.S. Person Prohibitions. The ITSR [Iranian Transaction and Sanctions Regulations] prohibits the exportation, reexportation, sale, or supply, directly or indirectly, from the United States or by a U.S. person, wherever located, of any goods, technology, or services (including aircraft and related goods, technology or services) to Iran, unless the transactions are exempt from regulation or authorized by OFAC." — U.S. Treasury Department Iran-Related Civil Aviation Industry Advisory dated July 23, 2019"

"“The Boot Barn customer is younger, makes more money and SKUs more female than most people realize. So the average age of the customers is 44 years old, the median income is $75,000, and while men's product out sales ladies product about 2:1, half of our customer foot traffic is female.” — CEO Conroy, ICR Conference, Jan 12, 2015; “Our median income is about $75,000” — CEO Conroy, CNBC Interview, June 6, 2023; “Our consumer is still pretty solid I would say” — CEO Conroy, CNBC Interview, June 6, 2023"

"“...we announced the acquisition of Ciba's textile effects business. This was an acquisition of roughly $255 million with an $88 million LTM EBITDA. It is our objective over the course of the next two years to invest about $100 million into that textile effects business, and we believe we can get that EBITDA up to about 15%, 16% of sales; increase that EBITDA from its present rate of about $90 million run rate, upwards of about $150 million run rate.” — Peter Huntsman, President & CEO, September 2006"

"“My personal opinion is that Cesar Navarro is totally corrupt and even more politically protected by President Evo Morales himself (another great corrupt too).” “...Particularly in the case of Minera Alcira and Cesar Navarro, the secrecy with which they handled the issue and the speed of procedures in all administrative instances, to grant prospecting areas, is very suspicious. This fact clearly shows Navarro's interest in Minera Alcira.” — Bolivian Journalist Who Reports on the Local Mining Industry"