Dan Loeb: The Lost Art of Short Selling, and Why Stock Picking is Back
(0:00) Dan Loeb joins the Besties!
(0:34) Investor journey: From message boards to a multibillion dollar hedge fund
(3:15) Third Point's early days: mentors and market turmoil
(8:47) Strategy shift: Event-driven to quality and AI
(16:01) The art of short selling and a homebuilder trade
(22:15) Criminal justice reform and the Ross Ulbricht pardon
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Dan Loeb - Lessons from 30 Years of Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.475]
My guest today is Dan Loeb, the founder and CEO of Third Point.
Dan started Third Point in 1995 with a few million dollars, and today the firm manages over 24 billion across equities, corporate and structured credit, venture, and insurance.
He is best known for his activist work at companies like Sotheby's, Sony, and Yahoo, and for the public letters he has written to boards over the years.
What I find most interesting about Dan is how much his approach has evolved across thirty years.
He came up as a credit and event-driven investor at Warburg Pincus and Jefferies, built Third Point, then layered in quality investing, thematic technology investing, and now a very large credit business that sits alongside the hedge fund.
We cover how he thinks about the AI stack and the companies inside it he believes matter most, the difference between good and bad governance, what FTX taught him about due diligence, the Sony and Sotheby's stories, and the power of writing.
Please enjoy my conversation with Dan Loeb.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best
(00:02:29) Dan Loeb
(00:03:21) Mental Models Information Overload
(00:06:50) Dan's Identity as an Investor
(00:11:24) The End of Classic Event-Driven Investing
(00:13:52) Evolving Strategy Over 30 Years
(00:17:48) Return Opportunities in Today's Market
(00:21:12) Sources of Alpha for Fundamental Investors
(00:22:10) Good vs. Bad Governance
(00:26:17) Writing as an Investing Tool
(00:27:29) The Sotheby's Story
(00:30:04) Activism Opportunities Today
(00:31:03) Third Point's Evolution to 60% Credit
(00:36:10) Dan as Sole Portfolio Manager
(00:38:09) Value Investor Perspective on Today's Market
(00:39:23) Investing Outside the US
(00:40:33) The Sony Activism Story
(00:43:59) Lessons from 30 Years of Investing
(00:46:26) Danaher and Operational Excellence
(00:48:48) Building the Insurance Liability Business
(00:51:19) The FTX Story
(00:53:07) Leading a Team Through Uncertainty
(00:54:29) Where Third Point Is Most Contrarian
(00:56:22) What Makes a Great Analyst Today
(00:58:12) The Next 10 Years
(01:00:24) The Kindest Thing