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Last Saturday, Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey woke up to the news that one of the world’s most feared activist investors — Paul Singer’s Elliott Management — had bought a stake in the company he runs and wanted to kick him out.
A fortnight earlier, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son had similar news: Elliott Management had bought a stake in the troubled tech giant and wanted to shake up the company.
Elliott’s reputation is for being fierce, dogged and successful. In 2012 it took control of an Argentine warship in a row with the country’s government about whether it had to repay in full government bonds Argentina had defaulted on, claiming it as collateral for its debt. Elliott pursued its case against the country through the international court system for 15 years, and eventually won, netting it a profit of $2B. It is that kind of success that has seen the company amass assets under management of $40B, according to its website.
But earlier this year, Elliott called time on a fight it appeared it couldn’t win: the fight against the decline of the UK retail property sector. The company’s investment in UK REIT Hammerson was ultimately sold for £100M less than the price it paid for the shares, although its loss…
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