Daniel S. Loeb Biography

Daniel Seth Loeb (born December 18, 1961) is an American hedge fund manager. He is the founder and chief executive of Third Point LLC, a New York-based hedge fund with over $14 billion in assets.

Biography

Loeb, the son of Ronald and Clare Spark Loeb, grew up in Santa Monica, California and attended Palisades Charter High School. His father was a partner at the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella LLP and general counsel for Williams-Sonoma. His mother is a historian. Loeb's great-aunt, Ruth Handler, created the Barbie doll and co-founded Mattel Inc.

Loeb attended University of California at Berkeley for two years and subsequently graduated from Columbia University with a degree in economics. Before founding Third Point in 1995, he worked at Citicorp and Warburg Pincus.

In 2013, Forbes listed Loeb as one of the 40 highest-earning hedge fund managers.

Business

Loeb is well known in the financial world for writing public letters, in which he expresses disapproval of the performance and conduct of other financial executives. Supporters contend his letter writing is effective shareholder activism; critics counter that his letters are distracting for executives and uncomfortable for investors. Less than 10% of Third Point's total assets under management go to shareholder activism.

In 2012, Loeb, who through Third Point LLC held 5.8% of Yahoo! stock, sought seats on the Yahoo! board for himself, former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, former Goldman Sachs executive Harry Wilson and former MTV Networks executive Michael J. Wolf. On May 3, 2012, Loeb revealed that the new CEO of Yahoo!, Scott Thompson, did not have a computer science degree, as had been commonly assumed for many years. Thompson resigned on May 13, 2012. On the same day, Yahoo! announced that Loeb, Wilson and Wolf would become members of the Yahoo! board.

In May 2013, Loeb proposed splitting Sony's entertainment and electronics businesses, arguing that such a split would increase profits. On 18 June 2013, Third Point LLC announced that it had increased its stake in Sony to 70 million shares, or about 7 percent, valued at $1.4 billion. According to Bloomberg.com, Sony's board of directors is considering Loeb's proposal and has hired Morgan Stanley and Citigroup, Inc. to evaluate it. Actor George Clooney, whose Smokehouse Pictures production company has a contract with Sony's entertainment division, has publicly opposed the proposal, questioning Loeb's understanding of the film industry.

Advocacy

Loeb has argued that the United States government is undergoing a 'crisis of leadership'; in his opinion, the administration of President Barack Obama is committed to "redistribution rather than growth."

In 2013, Loeb was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in Hollingsworth v. Perry, in support of same-sex marriage.

Personal life

In 2004, Loeb married Margaret Davidson Munzer in a service held at his beach house in East Hampton, New York. He is a founding "Master Player" of Portfolios with Purpose, an annual virtual stock trading contest that raises money for charitable causes of the winning contestants' choice.