Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman used the F word – failure – to describe his disastrous investment in retailer J.C. Penney. Mr. Ackman’s admission was honest, surprising and very shrewd. It is a risk that likely will pay off handsomely in the months ahead.
Chiefs of accounting firms don’t often make headlines. So it was surprising to see KPMG Chairman Michael Andrew tell a reporter that the insider-trading scandal involving a former partner was not a big deal. Is that really the best message for the CEO when his colleague commits a crime?
This is the season for tallying CEO compensation, and for shaming those who profited while shareholders suffered. I’m no defender of high CEO pay, but much of the reporting on it is inconsistent at best, and in many cases it’s highly misleading. The problem arises from combining two things that should be separate: pay granted […]
Herbalife didn’t get much of a bounce today, a day after investor David Einhorn raised questions about the company’s accounting that sent the shares tumbling. After rising early in the day, the shares fell another 6 percent, even after the company provided additional information in response to Einhorn’s questions. (My earlier post discussed the […]
Herbalife shares are rebounding a little after a 22% drop yesterday, when questions from investor David Einhorn during the company’s earnings call sent investors fleeing. Einhorn is known for spotting accounting problems at companies and backing up his skepticism by taking big short positions. His sharp questioning of Lehman Brothers highlighted issues that ultimately brought […]