“Hedge fund managers who made a billion dollars last year now pay a lower effective tax rate than many nurses.” U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (D. Vermont) via Twitter (@SenSanders )
“(Bill) Ackman doesn't run a hedge fund - he runs a levered long storytelling fund with hedge fund fees.” Keith McCullough, former fund manager and CEO of Hedgeye Risk Management, discussing Ackman’s bets on overhauling troubled retailer J.C. Penney, via Twitter (?@KeithMcCullough)
“I guess they decided to go to battle.” Carl Icahn on Netflix setting up a poison pill to ward off an Icahn takeover. (via The Wall Street Journal)
“We can't rely on the government for all of this.” Roy Niederhoffer, head of R.G. Niederhoffer hedge funds, on why he is helping deliver aid to Superstorm Sandy victims in New York City. (via New York Times)
“The first rule of Fight Club is there is no Fight Club.” Reid Weingarten, lawyer for Level Global Investors founder Anthony Chiasson, pointing at the group of analysts who allegedly passed along corporate secrets to Chiasson and former Diamondback Capital portfolio manager Todd Newman, both on trial for insider trading. Weingarten maintained the analysts had a clique that they likened to the 1999 cult film “Fight Club” and didn’t tell their bosses what they were up to. (via New York Post)
“Six CEOs in eight years, none of whom have any bread and cake baking industry experience, was the prescription for failure.” Hostess Brands union president Frank Hurt after the hedge-fund run baking company closed its doors, claiming the problems were due to mismanagement at the hands of financial speculators rather than union demands. (via The Guardian)