Despite a public scolding from George Clooney, the hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb doesn’t have too many regrets about his activist investment strategy.
“I can’t think of a time in our experience where we misstepped,†Mr. Loeb told an audience at DealBook’s Opportunities for Tomorrow Conference on Tuesday, during which he spoke to the DealBook columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Mr. Loeb, who runs Third Point Capital, pressed unsuccessfully to have the Sony Corporation to spin off 20 percent of its United States-based entertainment assets into a publicly traded entity. Mr. Loeb criticized the film studio’s profitability and transparency, earning him a public admonition from Mr. Clooney, who compared Loeb’s strategy to Walmart’s strangling businesses in a small town.
“Sounds a little hyperbolic,†Mr. Loeb said after listening to Mr. Sorkin read part of Mr. Clooney’s August interview with the online trade publication Deadline Hollywood. “He obviously got a little worked up about our role,†Mr. Loeb said, adding that he would love to one day meet the actor to discuss the issue.
While Mr. Loeb admitted his push to break off a piece of Sony “failed,†he applauded the company’s pledge for more transparency in its film and television operations. Unlike the other five large production studios, which are all owned by larger conglomerates, Sony does not break out the profits of those divisions.
Mr. Loeb also touched on his public dispute with the hedge fund investor William A. Ackman, who has criticized Mr. Loeb’s investment in Herbalife, the nutritional supplements company that Mr. Ackman has described as a pyramid scheme.
“I have a fiduciary duty to my investors, not Bill Ackman,†Mr. Loeb said.
