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Activist Ackman takes aim at Target

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Published July 12, 2007 at 4:47 PM

William AckmanActivist investor William Ackman (pictured at left) reportedly has taken a more than 5% stake in discount retailer Target Corp., according to a Bloomberg report. Ackman and his hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management have yet to disclose the stake in an SEC filing, but they are expected to by next week, according to the article, which cites "a person with direct knowledge of his plans." In the past, Pershing Square has pressured such companies as McDonald's Corp., Wendy's International Inc. and Ceridian Corp. to make changes and boost shareholder returns. One of Ackman's most prominent successes came in 2005 when Pershing Square forced Wendy's to spin off its Tim Hortons Inc. doughnut and coffee shop chain. —Matthew Wurtzel

See story from Bloomberg
See July 5 Ceridian story from TheDeal.com
See story about Tim Hortons IPO from TheDeal.com
See previous post about Ackman's McDonalds campaign

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From: YaMon,

I thought Ackman was mostly remembered for having to close down his funds when his golf course investments triple-bogeyed. Maybe it's just me.

As for Target, am I the only one who actually read the 13D and saw that 79,000,000 of the alleged shares in the "stake" are just call options? How can you call that a "stake"? I don't think you can vote options.

By that logic, I might as well say that I own a 5% stake in Wal-Mart because, well, I might buy the stock someday.

Posted on: July 16, 2007 7:26 PM


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