Daniel Loeb: Third Point LLC

Daniel Loeb manages some $5 billion at his firm; however he’s become one of the better known hedge fund managers due to the blunt missives he’s penned over the years. In the Schedule 13D—the form that investors have to file with the SEC when they acquire a 5% ownership share in a public company—Loeb has attached brutal letters that expose all of the weaknesses of the company management whom he doesn’t think is up to snuff.

‘It’s about time for you to step down from your role as CEO and director:” Daniel Loeb wrote to Irik Sevin, the CEO of Star Gas. Sevin accepted Loeb’s advice and resigned very shortly thereafter. The CEO and board of directors of Nabi Pharmaceuticals received similar criticism: ‘We will work assiduously… to ensure that you will have plenty of time to pursue your golf games and to enjoy the Florida sun afterwards.’ Loeb has also used his letters to take aim at his colleagues in the industry.

The saber-rattling benefits Third Point’s investors—and Daniel Loeb himself. The hedge fund has an average annual return of 23% since it’s founding, and in 2007, Loeb also earned an estimated $200-250 million.

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