"Think like an owner" is a dictum that has helped win Warren Buffett 40 years of adulation as a beacon of wise investment. For a new breed of "activist" investor who also thinks like an owner-though of a particularly demanding sort-it has so far generated more controversy than praise. Activist investors have sought to influence companies ever since the bursting of the South Sea Bubble led to calls for company directors to be hanged. But activism has taken on fresh vigour of late, as hedge fund managers and their staider counterparts at pension funds have sought new ways to justify their handsome fees.
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