International Herald Tribune – In the last year, hedge funds and deep-pocketed individual investors have been cajoling management at many large companies to buy back shares, increase dividends or take other steps to bolster shareholder value.<\/p>\n
The billionaire Kirk Kerkorian, for example, who amassed a large stake in General Motors, is lobbying for a board seat there. And Carl C. Icahn, the 1980’s-era corporate raider turned shareholder activist, has been harrying management at companies like Blockbuster and Kerr-McGee. Mr. Icahn has directed his wrath most loudly at the media conglomerate Time Warner, which he once said was run by “morons.”<\/p>\n
For the most part, mutual funds – the investment vehicle of choice for most investors – have historically avoided shareholder activism, and most still do. But a handful recently have joined hedge funds and other investors on the corporate barricades.<\/p>\n
The Mutual Series Funds, a unit of Franklin Templeton Investments, has a long history of shareholder activism. In the mid-1990’s, its founder, Michael F. Price, pushed Chase Manhattan to merge with Chemical Bank. Today, Mutual Series, which manages about $45 billion, is making common cause with Mr. Icahn and other hedge funds in pushing for action at Time Warner, albeit in gentler terms.<\/p>\n