Welcome to When The Sharks Bite! A New Activist Investing Newsletter

Welcome to the When the Sharks Bite. My name is Blake, and I will be your tour guide into the world of Corporate Whales and the Wall Street Sharks that hunt them. You can thank Bill Ackman, who first introduced me to the world of activist investing through his short-selling reports and media appearances on CNBC. Which inevitably led me to read likely my favorite book of all time, Confidence Game: How Hedge Fund Manager Bill Ackman Called Wall Street's Bluff for the first time, and ever since then, I have been hooked on fervently following this corner of Wall Street.

In my opinion, activist investors are by far the most entertaining and insightful stories that Wall Street offers. The task of seeking profits from failing companies or those with stubborn management teams is monumental. It takes a massive amount of commitment and ego, and steadfastness in the face of scrutiny. Many view these activist investors as financial wizards who rely on pure analytical horsepower to will them to victory, but the analysis is the easy part. The hard part is getting everyone else on board, convincing other investors to buck the status quo, and subscribe to your view of the world. It takes influence skills, excellent communication, and the ability to weather the inevitable storm of scrutiny that often accompanies the battle to change a company externally. Your cheerleaders will call you an agent of change, your enemies a profiteer. This juxtaposition makes for a fascinating saga that winds its way from boardrooms to front-page news and even the occasional on-air spat on CNBC.

Watch Bill Ackman vs. Carl Icahn Here

And this newsletter plans to be here to cover it all! So if you're still with me, let's jump into some of the value I hope to provide in When The Sharks Bites:

I look to accomplish three things with this newsletter, the first is to cover the movements and news updates of activist investors large and small, I want to provide a weekly look at what is happening in the activist investing world so that we can all be informed and maybe even piggyback off a trading idea or two if you are feeling frisky.

Secondly, I want to provide insight and commentary, ranging from my own thoughts and opinions to interviews with professional investors and hopefully the activists themselves. The goal being I want this newsletter to be a place that dives deeper than a WSJ or CNBC article. I want to get deep and dirty into how activist investors work, learn why they are picking their targets, how they plan to change said targets, and what makes them the right candidate to do so.

And finally, I want this to be a learning ground for anyone who may want to dip their toe in activist investing in the future, starting by reading and sharing summaries, recommendations, and learnings from books and articles about activist investing. The first book up is Deep Value by Tobias E. Carlisle, with the Preface and Chapter One Summary coming this Sunday.

Hopefully, everyone will enjoy the newsletter, and as the community grows, the products I can offer will grow with it! So smash that subscribe button and look out for Issue No. 1 in your inbox this Sunday!

Subscribe to When The Shark Bites!! Here

For more Blakes Business Minute Content check out my social media pages below:

Blakes Business Minute Tik Tok

Blakes Business Minute YouTube

Blakes Business Minute Instagram