Loeb Humbly Accepts Sony’s Rebuff of His Shake-Up Plan

For an investor known for caustically challenging companies who rebuff his advances, Daniel S. Loeb was uncharacteristically humble in acknowledging Sony‘s rejection of his proposal to shake up the Japanese icon.

In an interview with Variety â€" whose parent company is partially owned by Mr. Loeb’s firm, Third Point â€" the hedge fund manager contended that he was actually pleased with Sony’s decision to hold onto all of its entertainment unit. The move, announced late on Monday, closed the door on his proposal to list up to 20 percent of the business on the public market.

Instead, Mr. Loeb pointed to Sony’s decision to disclose more information about the entertainment division’s financials as a win, arguing that it furthers his aim of more transparency and accountability.

In explaining Sony’s rejection of the Third Point plan, Sony’s chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, firmly said that the conglomerate benefited by having both its electronics and entertainment divisions under one roof, and that the company had more efficient ways of raising capital.

The gracious tone may be tied in part to the difficulty that Mr. Loeb would have in pressing a proxy fight at Sony. Though he could call for a special election, since the company’s board is up for re-election in June, foreign shareholder activists have long struggled to make meaningful changes at Japanese companies. Mounting a full-scale assault on one of the country’s most famous companies could prove exceptionally difficult.

The Third Point chief said that he would instead monitor Sony’s progress in improving profitability in its entertainment arm and reassess his feelings around next year’s annual meeting.

Mr. Loeb went so far as to soft-pedal his previous criticism of the entertainment arm, notably in an investor letter in which he pointed to the poor performance of “After Earth” and “White House Down”:

“It is probably unfair to focus on one or two bad movies, just in the way that Third Point from time to time can have one or two bad months or a bad year. What is important is the overall profitability and margins over a period of time.”

Sony wasn’t the only entity that Mr. Loeb sought to make amends with. He had nice words to say of George Clooney, who bitterly attacked the hedge fund mogul in an interview last week.

“Notwithstanding the fact that the media likes to create a stir, I admire Mr. Clooney’s passion for Sony and his loyalty to Sony and his friends there,” Mr. Loeb said, adding, “We are all for intelligent investment in creative content. I believe our interests are aligned in a way he probably doesn’t realize.”