Callouts & quotes from 10,384+ activist slides

"“because everybody is like, how is it possible that some of these hospitals are doing so many TransMedics? Because financially, it’s not possible to do too many...usually you tend to be believe that centers that use the device a lot – maybe they have some incentive to use it that much...Houston, maybe...Henry Ford, maybe....” — Transplant surgeon and division chief of the liver program at a world-renowned academic center"

"“because everybody is like, how is it possible that some of these hospitals are doing so many TransMedics? Because financially, it’s not possible to do too many...usually you tend to be believe that centers that use the device a lot - maybe they have some incentive to use it that much...Houston, maybe...Henry Ford, maybe....” — Transplant surgeon and division chief of the liver program at a world-renowned academic center"

"“So, when you have a soft endpoint like this and it's not 100% backed up by some of the other objective endpoints, like, say, a DEXA scan to show improvement in fat and fat muscle ratio has changed or the HOMA-IR is overall trending downwards or unchanged for a metabolic signal. I was kind of a little surprised that they didn't have any of that as label claims.” — Ex-Soleno employee #1, key role in clinical trial program"

"“So, I really think the government is going to come in, and they’re really going to shake this up, and I think the glory days of we’re going to charge $100,000 for a TransMedics device, and you have to use our people, and you’ve got to use our expensive jet - I think all that is over. I think the gravy train is coming to an end, honestly.” — CEO of a major OPO (Organ Procurement Organization), longtime industry executive"

"The Company defines subscription-based paying membership accounts as registered accounts through which users have purchased the Company's subscription-based membership services and whose membership subscriptions are active at any point during a given period. Some paying merchant members purchase membership services from more than one Company platform which contributes separately to the revenues of each platform. — 58.com"

"Yeah. Now to be sure, I have seen companies who I thought were very aggressive just in their tax basis. I couldn't name names, but I've seen some pretty aggressive stuff... I believe at least one of them, it's sort of an open secret in the industry that I've heard from a couple of tax lawyers, at least one of them is going through a whole series of audits right now. — Interview with Former RUN Executive B, November 2021"

"On October 20, 1998, the Registrant, VDC and the Committee of Unsecured Creditors of the Registrant ("the "Committee") entered into, and the Bankruptcy Court approved, a Stipulation Regarding Motion of VDC Corporation Ltd. for Reconsideration and Partial Stay of Confirmation Order Pending Completion of Fed. R. Bankr. P. 2004 Examinations to Investigate Grounds for Possible Revocation of Confirmation (the "Stipulation")."

"We would urge the board to consider more proactively whether these nominees might be more suitable for the company at this point in its development than some of the long-serving incumbents who do not seem to have been able to challenge management sufficiently to avert the company's extended decline in performance and share price. — ISS Proxy Advisory Services, Recommendation: Barnes & Noble Proxy Contest, September 2010"

"Yes. Evoqua was a customer. They're an OEM, they take and put things together and sell the package. So for example, they would buy Gould's pumps and put it into a package and deploy modular treatment packages. Yes, there was competitive overlap though fairly small in UV line to disinfect water like cryptosporidium. I think there will be revenue synergies, but they'll be harder than people think. — Former Xylem Executive"

"“We’d obviously welcome a substantive turnaround plan from Southwest... In our opinion, bona fide turnarounds often include meaningful changes in network composition, fleet overhauls, and revisions to business models. Management turnover is sometimes a component, as are changes in pricing philosophy... Unfortunately, we don’t believe Southwest is eager to meaningfully engage in such changes...” — J.P. Morgan, April 2024"

"We love to make investments alongside incredible partners like Twist. Over the past four years, we ordered approximately one billion base pairs of synthetic DNA from Twist, allowing us to test hundreds of thousands of proteins across dozens of programs for our customers, resulting in many completed programs spanning vaccine manufacturing, food, flavor, fragrance and even cannabigerol (CBG). — Jason Kelly, CEO of Ginkgo."

"In terms of the leverage ratio, I really haven't been overly focused on it at this point. I don't think it will be the constraining ratio for us...I don't think it's going to change business behavior at this point as I look at it — Todd Gibbons (4/19/11). We now know most of what the rules are and so far it's been the supplemental leverage ratio that is turning out to be our binding constraint — Todd Gibbons (10/28/14)."

""Net cash provided by financing activities for fiscal 2004 was $8.7 million, compared with $11.4 million for fiscal 2003. The decrease is primarily attributable to a decline in proceeds from common stock issued under stock incentive plans. In addition, the Company had no short-term borrowings at the end of fiscal years 2004 and 2003, other than amounts due GECC which are included in accounts payable." — Linens 2005 10-K"

"“We’d obviously welcome a substantive turnaround plan from Southwest... In our opinion, bona fide turnarounds often include meaningful changes in network composition, fleet overhauls, and revisions to business models. Management turnover is sometimes a component, as are changes in pricing philosophy... Unfortunately, we don’t believe Southwest is eager to meaningfully engage in such changes...” — J.P. Morgan, April 2024"

""A key component of our SSP is the ability to meaningfully scale business through global expansion. We had a great quarter internationally, close to 13% of our total spend generated outside of the U.S., an increase of nearly 60% from the same period last year. We see plenty of green fields remaining in these markets and we're excited about the prospect of continued growth." — Mark Zagorski, Telaria Q2 2017 Earnings Call"

""2024 was a pivotal year for Phillips 66, and I am proud of the accomplishments of the Board and management team. With active Board oversight, Phillips 66 executed well on an ambitious set of strategic priorities, substantially improving its competitiveness and positioning the Company well to deliver on its initiatives through 2027..." — Phillips 66 Lead Independent Director Glenn Tilton, Fourth-Quarter Results, 1/31/25"

"“biggest whore is my field in cardiac surgery was a guy named Abbas Ardehali” — Anonymous transplant chief; “was going around telling everybody that every heart should be put on the OCS system...that’s an example of someone who’s completely owned and operated by TransMedics.” — Anonymous transplant chief; “a pioneer in the field...constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible,” — Wikipedia entry for Dr. Ardehali"

"“A very small company. I think they wanted it to work, and they want to believe it works. And, that was not my immediate reaction to what I saw...the person [who ran] clinical development also felt the same way...we were disappointed to not see what we were expecting and reacted accordingly. No matter how you slice and dice it, the data is there the way it is.” — Ex-Soleno employee #2, key role in clinical trial program"

"In a referral world, you should be doing a few things. You should be generating fewer leads because you're not convincing someone to fill out lots of forms. You're also not selling to multiple parties. And you're much clearer with the consumer. So we found a referral when we changed the call to action from contact agent to schedule a tour, leads volume went down, but conversion and efficiency went up. — Former Executive"

"“We’d obviously welcome a substantive turnaround plan from Southwest... In our opinion, bona fide turnarounds often include meaningful changes in network composition, fleet overhauls, and revisions to business models. Management turnover is sometimes a component, as are changes in pricing philosophy... Unfortunately, we don’t believe Southwest is eager to meaningfully engage in such changes...” — J.P. Morgan, April 2024"

"Müller: I'll start with something easy. Mr. Tüngler, Ströer Venture. Ströer Venture is, as its name suggests, a vehicle that we will use to invest in promising, mainly digital, business models where we are not yet sure whether or not they will form part of our core business in the short and medium term, but where we see the potential that they may do so in the future. That is why we founded Ströer Venture. — Udo Müller"

"That is why I am actually really shocked that we are being taken to count over it today. Mr. Metzner, who wasn't yet here back then, said to me the other day: There you have it: money being thrown out of the window. But if we hadn't done all that, we would still have been taken to count. At the end of the day, you have to wait until you are accused of embezzlement for spending so much on transaction costs. — Udo Müller"

""When I was a general manager Joe Lee would come into my restaurant and would actually work with me. He was the CEO of Darden Restaurants at the time... I think that’s the piece, the excitement around being a hospitality company, the passion behind delivering [a] great guest experience... I think those are the pieces that Darden has always been missing." — Former SVP of Darden, investor conference call, August 14, 2014"

""When I was a general manager Joe Lee would come into my restaurant and would actually work with me. He was the CEO of Darden Restaurants at the time... I think that’s the piece, the excitement around being a hospitality company, the passion behind delivering [a] great guest experience... I think those are the pieces that Darden has always been missing." — Former SVP of Darden, investor conference call, August 14, 2014"

"“Victoria is a dynamic leader who has played a critical role in managing transactions that have advanced growth and shareholder value,” said Nate Davis, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the K12 Inc. Board of Directors. “Her depth of experience in finance, IT, and in streamlining operations coupled with her love for education enhances the skills, mix, and diversity of thought in our Board.” — Nate Davis, K12 Inc."

""The acquisition of Temptime advances the integration of smart supplies into our Enterprise Asset Intelligence vision as we incorporate temperature-monitoring capabilities... We have the unique ability to scale this technology deeper into the healthcare industry and drive it into other key opportunities such as food safety that can benefit from increased asset visibility." — Anders Gustafsson, CEO of Zebra Technologies"

"“...We’re committed to four quarters of brand support. The fourth quarter we increased meaningfully our media investment versus previous year and we’re going to continue that in FY17” — Q4 '16 Earnings Call; “We’ve stepped up digital [advertising]. Why? Because it’s working, and we’re getting the returns, and we can see the returns both in volume and in sales and importantly, in terms of profit.” — August 2017 (Clorox)"

"So again, I know that some are very anxious that we hold those shares. Others, very anxious that we sell those shares or swap those shares and so forth. We've got a very close handle on that, and it is our objective to be able to monetize those shares this year and. And to bring in another, at least, $1 billion into the company and into the cash flow of the company. — Peter Huntsman, Chairman, President & CEO, May 2018"

"Now when it comes to the second question that has to do with what we are doing better when it come to search advertise. So what we are doing better very much has to do with our partners, Microsoft advertising. So Microsoft identified that there is the time and they are putting a lot of effort behind it, it has to do with new products that we launched during -- in this quarter, it's called Microsoft Trends. — Perion CEO"

"“So it’s an 11.5% moment [the IRR on the Senior Preferred]. And it just shows that, you know, that there is an opportunity here also to protect the taxpayer. The taxpayer has actually been – in some ways, in many ways, repaid from the bailout of Fannie and Freddie. We gotta kind of turn the page and fix it to move on.” — Craig Phillips, Counselor to the US Treasury Secretary from 2017 to 2019, in May 16, 2019 interview"

"“So it’s an 11.5% moment [the IRR on the Senior Preferred]. And it just shows that, you know, that there is an opportunity here also to protect the taxpayer. The taxpayer has actually been – in some ways, in many ways, repaid from the bailout of Fannie and Freddie. We gotta kind of turn the page and fix it to move on.” — Craig Phillips, Counselor to the US Treasury Secretary from 2017 to 2019, in May 16, 2019 interview"

"For the past few years our cash flow has enabled us to continue to pursue our growth plans and continue to pay down debt. Our free cash flow is now sufficient to fund both those priorities while enhancing new to shareholders through a quarterly dividend payment. We are able to generate the free cash flow to do all of this because we employ a simple growth oriented business model at Dollarama — June 2011 Conference Call"

"Our Company: We are a Tennessee-based mining company with operations in Virginia and West Virginia... We own a 65.0% interest in Dominion Terminal Associates (“DTA”), a coal export terminal in Newport News, Virginia. DTA provides us with the ability to fulfill a broad range of customer coal quality requirements through coal blending, while also providing storage capacity and transportation flexibility. — AMR 2021 10-K"

"<Q – Mervin Song [DBS]>: Two questions…And the other thing I need clarification on is just the $46 million in relation to the excess over the cost of business combination. Can you give us some color in terms of how that arose? Thanks. … <A – Robert van der Zalm [Noble CFO]>:…Oh, yes, with regard to the second part of your question, the $46 million, that was relating to a number of — Mervin Song and Robert van der Zalm"

"2024 was a pivotal year for Phillips 66, and I am proud of the accomplishments of the Board and management team. With active Board oversight, Phillips 66 executed well on an ambitious set of strategic priorities, substantially improving its competitiveness and positioning the Company well to deliver on its initiatives through 2027... — Phillips 66 Lead Independent Director Glenn Tilton, Fourth-Quarter Results, 1/31/25"

"First of all, I think that multiples are very important in a stock price, obviously. But let's not get too transfixed on the multiple. If I look at the companies that have improved the greatest shareholder value that have gone up over the course of the last 2 1/2 years, 2 years, I think number one on that list is Lyondell. You have Westlake. I think Huntsman is number three on that list. — Peter Huntsman, May 20, 2014"

""Yes, we will help broadcasters to become popular. We estimate about 10% of the revenue of Momo is from this type of activity. Sometimes we will pay this cost to help a broadcaster." — Super Agency #6; "We have to. This is just the same as Taobao fake sales. Everyone does it. Each month about 10-20% of our revenue is us spending money on broadcasters. We share the loss equally with the broadcaster." — Large Agency #11"

""Recurring' Beat Driven by 'One-time' Gain? Same Guidance Costs More... We found the company's inclusion in 'core' of this one time item [Vietnam gain] as rather bothersome." — Bernstein, 7/25/13; "PepsiCo is now guiding to ~5% FX neutral EPS growth (ex Vietnam benefit) lapping 5% declines a year ago... Given what we see as low-quality earnings, we would prefer to put money to work elsewhere." — Consumer Edge, 7/25/13"

"We’d obviously welcome a substantive turnaround plan from Southwest... In our opinion, bona fide turnarounds often include meaningful changes in network composition, fleet overhauls, and revisions to business models. Management turnover is sometimes a component, as are changes in pricing philosophy... Unfortunately, we don’t believe Southwest is eager to meaningfully engage in such changes... — J.P. Morgan, April 2024"

""[Norfolk Southern] seems more concerned with compliance with minimum safety requirements... rather than understanding and seeking to address safety concerns..." — U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration Safety Assessment; "that ...contractors employed by the Norfolk Southern railway company 'lacked the scientific background' to decide that a vent-and-burn was necessary..." — The Washington Post"

"“To be honest, the fact that I can tell you—I can only tell you what I've seen [in public] at meetings. You can tell what the level of interest we had in that particular type of structure was. If we felt that was the bee's knees, and that was the way to go, I think it's possible if we wanted to get ahead of another company—” — Longtime senior scientist at Johnson & Johnson, with global leadership roles in neuroscience"

"Great brands define markets. As a leading branded consumer products company, Heinz must make marketing and innovation its core competency... Trian believes Heinz should reduce the amount that it currently spends on deals and allowances (20% of gross revenue) and reinvest those funds in creative consumer advertising, innovative new products and packaging and cross-marketing initiatives — Trian White Paper: May 23, 2006"

"First of all, for the next five years, at least until 2025/2026, the contracts and roadmap in the entire automotive industry, maybe except for Tesla, but everybody else who has an established system and supply chain, it’s all set already. I can tell you exactly what cars with which battery will be produced and sold in 2025, and it’s definitely not - we don’t have the solid-state battery in the pipeline. — VW employee"

""As we are thinking about the future and the new platform, we are envisioning that the new platform would exist for some time with our current platform." — Larry Blanford, CEO on Q1 2011 earnings call dated February 2, 2011; "If you want to come into the system, how comfortable are you investing in your R&D, CapEx, go to market and that might eventually be obsolete?" — Fran Rathke, CFO at conference on March 15, 2011"

"“Yes, absolutely. There’s no reuse. There’s no adaptive reuse in that system. Let’s say you wanted a ham sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mustard. But you have to make three sandwiches in order to get that combination, but you use the same amount of lettuce, tomato, and especially ham, your most important ingredient. You’ve got a lot of material cost there, and you get a lot of waste.” — Ex-senior executive of Gen9"

""During the fourth quarter of 2017, we identified a material weakness related to account reconciliations and monitoring over our U.K. subsidiary, Axon Public Safety U.K. Ltd. ("APS U.K"), which resulted from a breakdown in the operation of identified preventative and detective controls which led to the Company not initially recording some transactions correctly during 2016 and the interim periods in 2017" — Axon 10-K"

"there will be a resumption of its order flow and shipments to Amazon — Stifel Research. Recent sales growth has been broad-based, but still supported by the return of meaningful Amazon sales. While these appear stable for the next few quarters, an unexpected slowdown here may represent the biggest downside risk going into next year should offsetting contribution from new platforms not materialize. — Barclays Research"

""For the Lab Products & Services Division, Sartorius now anticipates that due to the softer economic environment, the lower range of the division's sales forecast of about 5% to 9% will be reached. The division's underlying EBITDA margin is expected to be just below 20% (previous guidance: slightly above 20%), with the operating increase accounting for about half a percentage point" — Sartorius Guidance Cut 7/19/2019"

"“When a company is paying us with SaaS fees, they’re paying us around $4 per customer today... $25 is great in terms of what we generate per homebuyer on average.” — Porch CEO, Analyst Day Dec 2021; “Each inspector was paying probably anywhere from a $1 to $3 per inspection to use that software. So if you knew your average lead was worth $14 - $15 bucks you could easily give that product away” — Former Porch Employee"

""We also continue to see a clear path to subscriptions conversion in our international installed base at a rate that is faster than our experience in North America circa 2013 through 2015." — Kevin Wilson, Q4 2020 Earnings Call; "The diagnostic devices are sold to customers, rented as well as placed free of charge against a contractually guaranteed minimum turnover of consumables." — scil 2019 Annual Financial Report"

"You can only beat on the spinal cord so long before a refractory response happens. Look at drugs – ones that effect the nervous system lead to tolerance. If you take two Vicodin a day you need four a day after 6 months to get the same effect because your nervous system is plastic. The pathological changes that may have occurred in patients with Nevro’s HF10 therapy are being studied. — KOL and former Nevro consultant"

"“improper use of proceeds from LeTV’s public offering” — Shenzhen Stock Exchange of China; “continued to assert his influence in the Company’s management and day-to-day operations... All major operational decisions within key functions of the business, including human resources, budget allocations, vehicle releases, and the financial services, are directed and approved by [Defendant Mr. Jia.]” — Whistleblower lawsuit"

""Value-In-Kind (VIK) means the goods and/or value other than the actual form of cash received" — Law Insider. "We have a unique rights strategy, whereby, as I mentioned before, we work with a vast number of sports to collect the underlying data that's required for sportsbooks through contra-relationships or swapping our software with those sportsbooks." — Mark Locke, CEO Genius Sports (M&A Call, October 28th, 2020)."

"Historical cost accounting for real estate assets implicitly assumes that the value of real estate diminishes predictably over time. Since real estate values instead have historically risen or fallen with market conditions, many industry investors have considered presentations of operating results for real estate companies that use historical cost accounting to be insufficient by themselves. — NAREIT FFO White Paper"

"“They just don’t present data that doesn’t tell their story. There’s no data anywhere in this presentation, right? There’s no data that shows they have a 32 qubit 4.2 quantum volume device. Show me a paper that has—they’re not lying per se, or there’s no scientific fraud, i.e., a publication where they lie on the charts or something. They just simply haven’t published it because it doesn’t exist.” — Former executive"

"In October 2014, we entered into an agreement to inject our free voice- over IP service, Weihui, into Bigo Technology Pte. Limited, or Bigo, a company set up and controlled by our chief executive officer, Mr. David Xueling Li. Following two independent third- party valuation assessments and a capital injection from other investors of Bigo, including Mr. Li, we retained a 27.8% ownership stake in Bigo. — YY 2014 20-F"

"“...we are also thrilled to announce the formal opening of our Global Business Services Center in Manila that took place during the third quarter...our Manila team now includes almost 150 team members, who are part of iRhythm's global clinical operations, customer care, finance, human resources, information technology, and revenue cycle management functions.” — iRhythm CEO Blackford on Q3 2023 Earnings Call, 11/2/23"

"“I wish...no, none of that. None of that. Yeah, I didn't get any of that...You talk about equity and things like that. There was no equity in the PC. The PC was basically worthless from a financial perspective.” — Former HIMS Physician. “In practicality, the PC owner really doesn't do anything. It's just kind of a figurehead in many ways. Just kind of a check the box to meet the regulation.” — Former HIMS Physician."

"Special committees play a key role in the new guidelines [in resolving the problem of conflict of interest and information asymmetry]. They also exert the utmost effort to maximize the benefit of minority shareholders, just like the situation that could be achieved by the merger between two independent partners where there is no conflict of interest — Riwa Sakamoto, director of the corporate system division at Meti."

"Rentokil Initial and Terminix are significant players in the attractive, non-cyclical and growing pest control industry. The global pest control market, estimated to be worth c.US$22bn in 2020 (51% in North America, 20% Europe, 21% Asia), has delivered a total market CAGR of 4.7% over the last five years and is estimated to grow at between 4.5% and 5%+ over the medium term. — Terminix and Rentokil Deal Press Release"