The April 5 Wall Street Journal tells of a hedge fund, Justice Holdings Ltd., headed by William Ackman buying a 29-percent share of Burger King. BK has been struggling, apparently, and it’s turnaround time.
Another of Ackman’s hedge funds, of course, Pershing Square, has bought into Canadian Pacific with the idea of changing its management.
Ackman is a busy fellow. In various photos, I find his eyes extraordinarily large. Maybe he only has an overactive thyroid, or maybe he has what baseball manager Billy Martin, speaking of hitter Al Kaline 40 years ago, called “sniper’s eyes.”
I would agree with Fred Frailey’s comments that CP needs a new CEO and if William Ackman is the man to cause this to happen, then it is a positive move. What worries me is the possibility that his hedge fund will use this takeover to raid CP’s treasury.
Is there anything to think that Ackerman would simply raid the treasury? Not sure about his track record.
Distressed companies are often the targets, simply because some discipline and change will result in positive growth and profitability. BK simply cannot compete with MCD at this time. MCD is hitting on all cylinders with innovation, pricing, and delivery.
CP has gotten left behind CNI the past decade. It is time for a change.
Not exactly a rail topic, but if the Burger Kings in my area are any indication if BK’s introuble it’s because they’re slow and inefficient. The foods fine, but the help in most of them need to shape up quite a bit. Micky-D’s was the same for quite a while then apparantly someone decided to crack the whip. Interestingly, I’ve never been in an inefficient Wendys, very consistant no matter where you go.
I’m very leery of hedge fund managers. In some ways they remind me of the ‘corporate raiders’ of yesteryear. Gain control of a corporation, then run it into bankruptcy, collect their share of profits from the sale of assets, then disappear into the woodwork.