The Deal
Sunday, November 22, 
12:50 am

Bill George refutes Ackman's Target proxy

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ackman,william125x100.jpgPershing Square Capital Management LP's Bill Ackman is in New York to unveil his picks for Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) board members and chat with the media about his proxy fight with the Minneapolis-based big-box retailer. Ahead of the meeting, he appeared on CNBC to give a taste of what he will likely say to shareholders, who he hopes will join his efforts to seat his slate on May 28.

In short, he told CNBC's "Squawk Box" crew his troubles aren't about poor management at the discount retailer, but a lack of retail experience on its board:

" 'First of all we are very supportive of management. We think the directors are high-quality people, but if you look at Target's board, this is obviously a major retailer, a major credit card company, a major owner of real estate, and yet there's not one retail executive on the board, there's not one credit card executive on the board.' "

Former Target board member Bill George takes issue with Ackman's assertions. Writing a column for The Deal, George, the former CEO of Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) and a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, said:

"Ackman is off base in suggesting that the Target board lacks relevant expertise, with no CEO-level expertise in retail, credit cards and real estate. Target's board includes financial experts with real estate and credit card expertise like Richard Kovacevich of Wells Fargo & Co. and Jim Johnson of Fannie Mae, and marketing experts General Mills Inc.'s Steve Sanger, McDonald's Corp.'s Mary Dillon, and Coca-Cola Co.'s Mary Minnick."

Meanwhile, Ackman continues his argument about potential board missteps, saying on CNBC:

" 'There's a reason why Wal-Mart and Kohl's, and others, Sears, have exited the credit card business because there really is an inherent conflict between the retailer and the credit card business. The retailer wants to generate same-store sales. The CEO wants to create as much credit for his customers, but obviously the problem with that is that you extend credit too much.' "

Again, George refutes these assertions:

"Target's retail strategies have been successful because they meticulously integrate retail, real estate and credit cards into consumer-friendly, family-focused offerings. Management carefully controlled real estate to ensure it could execute without compromise its 'big box' retail layouts. The Target credit card became an integral part of its merchandising offerings, including contributions of one percent of purchases to customer's local schools. Were Target to follow Ackman's recommendations, it risks losing control over its real estate and credit cards, and hence its merchandising strategy."

For more, see George's complete column on TheDeal.com.

- Matthew Wurtzel

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Comments

From: dave,

Bill Ackman lives a lavish lifestyle from short term profits from forcing managements to leverage their companies beyond reason and cut products and customer service in order to pay off the debts that enriched Ackman.

He should be banned from owning shares in public companies or in any company that consumers deal with since he will ruin it in order to line his own pocket.

He knows all this, of course, and its probably a big joke to him when he manages to get his way by beating up on people who are unable to resist his hard ball tactics.


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