Mid-day Update

PODCAST: Activist investors

David Brancaccio Apr 22, 2014
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Mid-day Update

PODCAST: Activist investors

David Brancaccio Apr 22, 2014
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Activist investor William Ackman has set his eyes on a new target: Allergan. Ackman has joined forces with Valeant Pharmaceuticals to purchase the Botox-maker for an undisclosed amount — $50 billion is one educated guess. Ackman along with other so-called corporate raiders Carl Icahn and Nelson Peltz, have become famous, and sometimes infamous, for shaking up the companies they invest in. Do they do more harm than good?

Netflix stock saw a jump after its quarterly profits report beat forecasts. The streaming video company also said it’s raising prices for new subscribers by $1 to $2 a month. Existing members won’t see their subscription fees go up any time soon, though, and new members still have some time to get the cheaper price; the increase won’t happen until the end of June.

Earth day, at 44, may be a little tired. The United Nations continues to report that the urgency of fighting climate change, for instance, should be red hot. But polling from Gallup shows that fewer people say they worry about it “a great deal” than at any time since 1998, when Gallup started asking the question.

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