By Irwin Speizer
“I am fascinated by Bill Ackman,” Ubben says. “I know Carl Icahn. He is an adrenaline junkie. He loves conflict. He loves the game. He is great at it. He spends a lot of his time with lawyers. I can’t stand being around lawyers. I would rather have everyone in a room have a really good discussion of facts. There may be some yelling and screaming along the way. But I have a much greater tendency to want everyone to agree on a decision than not. Icahn is unburdened by that.”
That Ubben and his team are able to work their way onto boards without much conflict doesn’t mean they are squeamish about pushing for major changes once they get inside. Under ValueAct’s influence, there have been 25 CEO changes and 12 major divestitures by the companies in which ValueAct has invested. In 20 cases the companies...