Callouts & quotes from 10,384+ activist slides

""We think we're about structured correctly for how we see each one of these markets today...I think Fred and Hudson made the point, we did the restructuring for the spin in front, not after. So, we like the size of the organization today, in fact, you'll see a little bit of increase - no, not a little bit. You'll see some investment in the R&D side." — Greg Poling, CEO, GCP Applied Technologies (January 2016)"

""The video advertising market is massive but highly concentrated among the largest publishers and broadcasters," said Doron Gerstel, Perion's CEO. "Just as Shopify's platform enables thousands of stores to compete with Amazon and Walmart, Vidazoo empowers hundreds of video-hungry publishers with a simple, highly scalable, plug-and-play video solution." — Doron Gerstel, Perion CEO (Deal Press Release Oct 2021)"

"Purchase price allocations for 2021 acquisitions were based on preliminary valuations, primarily related to intangible assets, product liabilities and deferred income taxes. Our estimates and assumptions are subject to change within the measurement period. The purchase price allocations for Wright, OrthoSensor and other 2020 acquisitions were finalized in 2021 without material adjustments. — Stryker 2021 10-K"

"“RESOLVED, that stockholders request that the Board adopt an annual election policy for directors, requiring each incumbent director... to deliver to the Board a letter of resignation effective at the next annual meeting of stockholders...” — Phillips 66 Proxy Statement. “Elliott's lawsuit further exhibits its lack of transparency and preference for theatrics over engagement.” — Phillips 66's April 24 Letter."

"“two out of three DCD's never die in time”... “if that period of time exceeds 30 minutes...we just walk away from the donor.”... “deteriorates very quickly, almost exponentially” at 30 minutes...if you try to get an organ our and use it for 50 minutes, it’ll never work...it doesn’t matter what you put into it.” — One of the top liver transplant surgeons in the world, based at a leading Midwest academic center"

"“This is not good...this is not good at all” — Division Chief for pediatric endocrinology at a major NE academic center. “You’re absolutely right. I’m not a PK person, but if you’re telling me that there’s a similarity, it would make no sense to do it in a tablet — if you’re saying that the PK data is similar…you’re absolutely right.” — Division Chief for pediatric endocrinology at a major NE academic center."

"Direct Sales Regulations: A direct selling company may not “have the fee-paying or commodities purchase serve[ ] as the conditions for becoming a sales promoter.” (Art. 14.) — Direct Sales Regulations; Pyramid Sales Regulations: An organization may constitute a pyramid scheme if it requires recruits “to pay a certain fee for obtaining the qualification for participation.” (Art. 2.) — Pyramid Sales Regulations"

"“Whole industry is shady as it gets but these guys are especially bad” — Kelly Scherr; “Outrageous fees most of which are higher than competitors” — DiFranco; “They lie, my bank hates them for that purpose” — Charity; “They are CROOKS! I have just audited my books. And found over $2,000 in extra fees they have slipped under my nose” — Todd Aimer; “I totally agree with stating they are CROOKS!” — Dawn Shearer"

"“...the strategic infrastructure we have in North Dakota, having control of that adds a lot of value... the Tioga Gas Plant...that’s not something we would be interested in MLPing.” — John Hess, November 2012; “...we need some historical performance there of cash flow, of the EBITDA, from these midstream assets, and as we get that... I expect the timing of the monetization is 2015.” — John Rielly, March 2013"

"“From the very start, they set themselves up as a lifestyle telemedicine platform.” — Spruce Point Interview With Former HIMS Physician; “...their customer is the 25 to 35 year old that drinks too much on the weekends and still wants to be able to perform. And I apologize because I know that really sounds tongue in cheek, but that is, that is the customer.” — Spruce Point Interview With Former HIMS Executive"

"It quickly died. There's got to be a compelling reason for an employer or insurer or anyone to enter into an agreement like that with a medical provider. And that reason, whether anyone wants to admit it or not, is how it impacts total cost of care...Just by the very nature of what HIMS does, it would only add cost. So I don't think that was ever realistic. — Spruce Point Interview With Former HIMS Executive"

"「はい。光源はふたつの電極間の放電によって発光します。そして、それらの電極をプロペラー、向き合っている扇風機のように捉えることができます。もうひとつ、油圧式ギアボックスのトルクコンバーターを思っていただければ、それも。とにかく、ふたつの扇風機があって、その間の空中に、溶けた錫のドーナツ状の溜まりが発生します。ふたつの電極が放電して、まるで稲妻のように、錫を発火させてプラズマに変質させます。そして、極端紫外線を集めて発光させる。しかし、出てくるのは極端紫外線だけでなくて、溶けた錫があっちこっち跳ねる、それが問題なのです。錫などの不純物を軽減させるための対策がありますが、十分には効きません。跳ねていく錫が全てにくっついて、光の流れの上流に発展していきます。汚すぎてどうしようもない。だから、レーザーテックでは、『Urashima』というプロジェクトにとりかかりました」 — KLAで極端紫外線マスク検査を担当した元幹部"

"Transactions between related parties are considered to be related party transactions even though they may not be given accounting recognition. For example, an entity may receive services from a related party without charge and not record receipt of the service. While not providing accounting or measurement guidance for such transactions, this Topic requires their disclosure nonetheless. — FASB ASC 850-10-5-5"

""The rates on the Operating Company leases were set with the intention that the public stockholders of New Prison Realty would receive as much of the benefit as possible from owning and operating the correctional and detention facilities.... In fact, the Operating Company lease rates were set so that Operating Company was projected to lose money for the first several years of its existence." — CXW 2002 10-K."

""It's not going to be easy for food and beverage companies to satisfy investors' appetite for growth... These companies need to buy sales growth by gobbling up smaller businesses that sell the healthy foods shoppers increasingly want." — Bloomberg, 2/18/16; "The highly competitive nature of food and beverage M&A over the past few years led to those soaring valuations in the first place." — Food Dive, 7/25/16"

"It is because Shopify and Square give free hardware. Lightspeed is going to have to change, and they are going to have to give away free hardware. They are still using printers that haven't changed in the last two and a half decades. When you look at the decrease in software ARPU and take into account the negative margin on the hardware, ARPU as a whole has dropped significantly. — Former Lightspeed Employee"

"“There are no plasma concentration curves to actually compare it meaningfully to preclinical data. I have never seen this before when researching any approved clinical agent... the lack of data in this regard is a huge red flag given that 2D6 is the primary p450 involved in the elimination of pitolisant – it’s hard to believe it was approved without this.” — Pharmacokinetic expert engaged by Scorpion Capital"

"The P66 folks need to focus on growing their base business. They've spent a lot of money in the last few years on acquisitions, on M&A deals that, depending upon what time frame you look at, many of them look like they're dilutive because P66 trades at such a low multiple. That low multiple is driven by their refining. They're priced as a refiner, not as a midstream company, not as a chemical company. — Mike"

"“We never understood why this lower growth, lower return (and lower multiple) business with undeniable long-term structural risks would enhance Disney’s asset mix or contribute to Disney’s DTC transformation. By allowing Comcast to prevail in the Sky bidding war, Disney avoided paying a massive premium for a business which is primarily a European DBS distributor” — Todd Juenger, Bernstein, September 24, 2018"

"“...The Company's Special Investigation Committee (the "Committee") today announced that based on the available bank account statements, the Company's bank balances were approximately: (i) USD$24,362,243 plus RMB801,756,757(USD$122,286,126) equal to USD$146,648,369 on March 31, 2011, and (ii) USD$23,221,331 plus RMB683,530,316(USD$105,409,872) equal to USD$128,631,203 on May 31, 2011.” — DGWIY Press Release"

"SandRidge claims TPG-Axon has "engaged in a false and misleading campaign and "consent solicitation" filled with half-truths and unsubstantiated statements regarding management, the Board and the Company. TPG-Axon has repeatedly made inflammatory and false statements with one simple goal – they want to distract you from the facts regarding SandRidge and its strategy for creating value..." — SandRidge Energy"

"I have very, very strong opinions about that. So we generally do a guideline based approach...there are very clear guidelines for when you operate...The very small group that doesn't start with pills are what we call an absolute indication for surgery: those who show up with a catheter because they can't pee...that's about 5% of our surgeries. — Spruce Point Interview with Major Hospital Urologist, Nov 2024"

"“Having said that, part of the reason we're moving our clients to common platforms is to eliminate costs that today are being really used to maintain old legacy platforms that aren't focused on innovation. So I think our need to invest more in R&D will be less if we have fewer platform so that we think that would be obvious.” — Carlos Rodriguez, Sanford C. Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference (May 2013)"

"“When you’re making a fixed-length gene and they do 1.8 KB or something is their largest size, and if it’s an easy sequence, you sequence five and two of them are right. If it’s a complicated sequence, you sequence 15, and maybe none of them are right. So, your costs very quickly change since sequencing is a big driver of the cost there.” — Ex-employee in senior product management and sales leadership roles"

"CEO Demarco Q3'16: “At these estimated production levels, we believe the potential market opportunity for Gremlin type aircraft is in the high several hundreds of millions of dollars up into billions of dollars” — Eric DeMarco. CEO Eric DeMarco: “It is very competitive, I am sorry, I did not talk about it in the script and I am not talking about it anymore. It's focus time. So, I apologize.” — Eric DeMarco."

""They came in and they have a guarantee on if anything gets missed, they will cover the cost of that, and I use that service, and it's awesome. I'm also a company that doesn't have a lot of claims, I've had in the last 3 years, maybe 4 or 5 claims, and they've paid every one of them. And it just makes me look good, makes them look good. So that's been awesome." — Home Inspector User of Porch (Source: Tegus)"

""When it comes to securing market share in launch services, time is of the essence, and Astra is falling behind." — BofA Securities, Initiating Coverage: Underperform; "Astra is undersized, it's just too small. If they don't announce something larger, I don't know how they hang-on...the market really wants a one-ton launcher, Astra is half that." — Senior Manager, launch and mission management services firm"

"“If you are lucky enough to get a hold of someone from Motif, they are very spicy about Ginkgo. They did not have a good experience with them and separated themselves as completely from Ginkgo as they could at the earliest possible date. I've not been told any of the details. All I know is that the CEO of Motif is barely on speaking terms with the Ginkgo folks anymore…” — Director-level employee of Joyn Bio"

"Kibush Capital Corp. ("Kibush"), is a Nevada corporation with headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kibush's common stock is registered with the Commission pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act, and the company files periodic reports with the Commission pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. Kibush's common stock is quoted on OTC Link. — SEC Charges Arthur Viola And Names Kibush Capital Corp."

"“we’re not in the business of transplanting people with 70-year old livers, like other places do. I know Methodist does a lot of older donors.” — Transplant hepatologist and director of the liver program at a Midwest academic center; “I’m surprised by it...having seen what they started with...I’m shocked that it has blown up into the program that it is.” — Transplant surgeon at a high volume academic center"

"“Vote AGAINST the Compensation Committee members for approving executive employment agreements that contain egregious pay practices and problematic pay-for-failure risks.” — ISS 2009 Report on Motorola; “Motorola’s executive compensation received an F grade.... Overall, the Company paid significantly more than its peers but performed significantly worse than its peers.” — Glass Lewis 2009 Report on Motorola"

""GreenPower integrates global suppliers for key components, such as Siemens or TM4 for the drive motors, Knorr for the brakes, ZF for the axles and Parker for the dash and control systems. This OEM platform allows GreenPower to meet the specifications of various operators while providing standard parts for ease of maintenance and accessibility for warranty requirements." — GreenPower IPO Prospectus (9/1/20)"

"No matter how many branches you open, it's charged as one school. For instance, if you ace our preliminary examination, reexamination, final examination and defense, and if we do decide to give you the authorization, your first school would always be the standard regardless of the number of branches. New Oriental always charges fees based on the size of the first school. — EDU (New Oriental Representative)"

"Gross margin was affected by product mix, including an increase in customer-funded R&D and early-stage programs. The inclusion of Themis, which has lower gross margins as well as an inventory step-up associated with the Themis purchase accounting. Germane will be dilutive to our gross margin and adjusted EBITDA margin in FY 2019, but accretive to fiscal 2019 adjusted EPS — CEO Aslett on Q4'18 Earnings Call"

"COOKING PASTA: The first step in any pasta recipe is to put water in a big pot and salt it. Nobody ever says how much salt to put in the water, because it’s simple: the water should be salty, Atlantic Ocean salty…And why is salt important in there? Because salt is water-soluble, and as the water enters the pasta, so does the salt, which makes the pasta taste like something. — The Frankies Spuntino Cookbook"

"NQ Yu Lin: First, we have already made all the bank savings public. We are probably the first listed company globally that is this transparent. Further work is still ongoing. The $1.6 billion in the Standard Chartered Bank is the investment money from the convertible bonds. Second, the issue with ZTE Corporation is a misunderstanding by the media. The interviewee does not have enough knowledge — NQ Yu Lin."

"COOKING PASTA: The first step in any pasta recipe is to put water in a big pot and salt it. Nobody ever says how much salt to put in the water, because it’s simple: the water should be salty, Atlantic Ocean salty…And why is salt important in there? Because salt is water-soluble, and as the water enters the pasta, so does the salt, which makes the pasta taste like something. — The Frankies Spuntino Cookbook"

""Also, substantially all of our servers are tested and assembled in our facilities, and more than half of our final server and storage production is completed in San Jose, California." — SMCI Disclosure; "Revised DIGITIMES estimates suggest that the server market shipments growth could decelerate to 4.3% in 2023 (revised from 5.2% previously) after posting an expansion of 6.1% in 2022" — DIGITIMES Research"

""We continue to remain focused as a Company and our Board of Directors on deleveraging. I think that when you look at our targets going out 2015 and 2016, our leverage ratios during that time period, particularly when you take into account an IPO during that time period, that our leverage ratios go to our long-time stated objective of 2.0 times our EBITDA." — Peter Huntsman, President & CEO, September 2013"

"「この1年ほど、業界は全体的に低迷しています。TSMCは投資を控えてきました。また、インテルも1年以上前から検査装置などの発注を控えてきました。」 — 半導体製造装置企業の上席幹部として長年の経験を持ち、レーザーテックのCEOに親しい人物; 「TSMCは発注を延期しています。アリゾナ州の建設計画は保留状態です。仕入れ先に対してそう言っています」 — インテルの上席エンジニアとして長年の経験を持ち、極端紫外線関連の製造について管理責任を持つ人物; 「サンノゼ市の工場にはレーザーテック製の装置が3台しかありません。また、工場は装置を増やす気はありません。私の元同僚のうち何人かは、オレゴン州に異動させられました。まず、数人をアリゾナ州に異動させて、その後、アリゾナ州から（オレゴン州の）ポートランド市に異動させました」 — インテルのマスク工場を現場で担当していた、レーザーテックの元フィールド・サービス・エンジニア"

"“Despite price increases, customer retention at 86.5% is now actually above pre pandemic levels.” — CFO Ingall-Tombs, Interim 2022, Sept 28, 2022; “Despite price increases, customer retention is up over 1 percentage point year-on-year at 86.6%.” — CFO Ingall-Tombs, 2022 Preliminary, March 16, 2023; “Despite price increases, customer retention was stable at 86.7%.” — CFO Ingall-Tombs, H1 2023, July 27, 2023"

"On December 3, 2024, Robert Aarnes, our President, ADI, adopted a Rule 10b5-1 trading agreement, pursuant to which he may sell up to 47,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The trading agreements is intended to satisfy the affirmative defense of Rule 10b5-1(c) under the Exchange Act. The duration of the trading agreement is from March 4, 2025 to December 31, 2025. — Resideo Technologies, Inc. (Form 4)"

"“But I think what's also clear, and you'd understand this, we're not spending cash. So, appropriately, they put GAAP revenue, but there's no cash revenue that we're spending over at Ginkgo right now because we have credits that go back from 2018 when they got $40 million worth of equity in Genomatica as part of our Series B and in exchange, they gave us a bunch of R&D credits.” — Senior Genomatica employee"

"“discounting is part of Nevro’s approach now” — Former Nevro executive; “a stupid move”; “one of the dumbest moves you could ever make.” — Ex-executive; “drastically” cut pricing... “cutting off your nose to spite your face” — Competitor; “Nevro really wins this”... “it’s a price war because none of the stim companies have created great customers.” — Ex-Nevro executive; “the hardest it has ever been” — KOL"

"“these are not well-recognized journals or high-quality data points...find it very interesting that there may be some internal inconsistencies...” — PWS endocrinologist #1. “I predict that I can achieve similar plasma levels and clinical efficacy with both an oral formulation and at low cost, even if it requires off-label prescribing. I'm totally in. That is an easy win for me...” — PWS endocrinologist #1."

"In the spring of 2003 the board was made aware of Kahn’s increasing tendency to become mired in the day-to-day management details, a person familiar with the situation said. Also at issue were sales projections that repeatedly turned out to be overly aggressive, turf battles between the company’s corporate merchandising division and store buyers and a faltering private label program, this person continued."

"And then lastly, in terms of utilization, I know you're maybe not ready to break out a specific revenue number. But I think, according to our model, I think the current utilization still came lower than we modeled. — Julia Qin. Yes, good question. As we've discussed, our expectation is to have an annuity in the range of 45,000 to 65,000 per instrument. And that's what we're seeing currently. — Larry Mehren"

"“Relative to India, you have to be careful about what you read out of all the press and all the things that are going on in India. But stepping back, we view, as we've always viewed India, is a very, very important market, a market that fits nicely within a diversified portfolio in American Tower.” — Tom Bartlett, ATL, CFO, EVP American Tower Corp at REITWeek®: NAREIT's Investor Forum Chicago June 6, 2013"

"“There’s a machine in development, and they hope that it will be able to do it, but it hasn’t done it yet.” — Former executive; “To me, that’s fraudulent.” — Former executive; “So, they’re trying to cover up that it’s not there, and it’s really a tough place to be.” — Former executive; “He never would admit that it was a mistake, because in his own mind he’s too brilliant and powerful.” — Former executive"

"Second of all, I bring 45 years of experience in the energy business to this, along with board experience and governance. This is a company that has good people, has a rich history, and great assets that don't necessarily belong together. So, I'm excited for the opportunity. I'm excited to bring my experience one more time to the game. And I think the opportunity here could not be clearer. — Sig Cornelius"

"“I do belong to the camp where I think there is clear space for a product that is oral and has the tolerability that we believe our TYK2 agent has and has a efficacy that is comparable to biologics to carve a really important space in the market. And we do look at that opportunity as a really meaningful opportunity for us.” — Giovanni Caforio, Chairman & CEO, Guggenheim Partner Oncology Day, February 2019"

""We believe a separation of our retail business from the remainder of Valero by way of a tax-efficient distribution will create operational flexibility within the businesses and unlock value for our shareholders... As independent companies, both retail and the remaining business will be better-positioned to focus on their industry-specific strategies." — Bill Klesse, Valero Chairman and CEO, July 31, 2012"

""During the fourth quarter, we achieved our strategic priority targets for shareholder distributions and asset dispositions." — Phillips 66 CEO Mark Lashier, January 31, 2025; "Yesterday afternoon PSX announced it will acquire Pinnacle Midstream for 5 50mm... While the deal looks fine on its own, we suspect investors will react negatively to PSX's decision on capital allocation." — TPH & Co., May 21, 2024"

"IT IS ORDERED that Defendants, Defendants' officers, agents, employees, and all other persons in active concert or participation with any of them, who receive actual notice of this Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, are permanently restrained and enjoined from advertising, marketing, promoting, or offering any Multi- Level Marketing Program unless such program has the following characteristics:"

"“I understand it’s not a human, but it’s an organ that’s going to go into a live human. It just blows my mind that they’re hiring people who are not qualified to be doing the stuff that they’re doing... they’re scrambling and can’t do it... these poor people are just stressed beyond words and have had a week of training.” — Organ procurement technician at a high-volume Northwest academic transplant center"

""Toys "R" Us and Babies "R" Us are premiere franchises with strong global brand recognition and a collection of high quality product offerings including toys, children's apparel, and baby products and accessories. We are excited by the prospect of partnering with the management team and employees to strengthen the long-term operating and financial performance of the businesses." — Matt Levin, a MD at Bain"

"“Notwithstanding Defendants’ express and implied representations that Herbalife offers a retail-based business opportunity, in truth the only way to achieve wealth from the Herbalife business opportunity is to recruit other Distributors.” — FTC v. Herbalife International of America, Inc., et al. (July 15, 2016). Case No.2:16-cv-05217, Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Equitable Relief, at p.23."

"IT IS ORDERED that Defendants, Defendants' officers, agents, employees, and all other persons in active concert or participation with any of them, who receive actual notice of this Order, whether acting directly or indirectly, are permanently restrained and enjoined from advertising, marketing, promoting, or offering any Multi- Level Marketing Program unless such program has the following characteristics:"

"“Mr. Tan has not sold a single share of Qutoutiao during the IPO or after the IPO, and has taken the CEO role to drive the business forward. All the shares owned by Mr. Tan are founder’s shares, and Mr. Tan has not earned any share rewards for his role as the CEO or Chairman of the Company. Mr. Tan has not pledged any of his shares to obtain cash advances either.” — Qutoutiao (quoted by Wolfpack Research)"

""They did 140% (total volume) recently. Having said that, even though I really believe in Philip, Nuvei and SafeCharge, I think it (volume growth) will now go a little bit down. They had the pitch and utilized the services, products in the background, Nuvei on the high risk in the states. Now they find a place where they have to start competing in the less risk markets." — Former Nuvei Employee Interview"