Crain – For years, Dan Loeb was the hedge fund world’s hanging judge, firing off blistering letters to hapless chief executives that condemned them for their shortcomings.
“Do what you do best,” he hissed in a 2005 letter to a soon-to-be-gone CEO. “Retreat to your waterfront mansion in the Hamptons. … The matter of repairing the mess you have created should be left to professional management.”
How times change. After years of posting average gains of 27%, Mr. Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund crashed to earth last year with a shattering 33% loss. In response, many investors grabbed their money and ran, driving assets under management to less than $2 billion from more than $5 billion previously. Now it’s Mr. Loeb who’s left to clean things up—or face oceanfront exile.
