By
James
Hirsen
In
early August 2013, hedge fund billionaire Daniel Loeb decided to weigh in on
Sony’s summer movie decisions. Loeb heads up Third Point Capital, a hedge fund
that holds a 7 percent ownership interest in Sony. Two recent box-office bombs,
“After Earth” and “White House Down,” have prompted Loeb to let loose with some
pointed barbs about the film studio’s performance.
The
billionaire investor strongly criticized Sony in his quarterly letter for the
“poorly managed” film division, citing “high salaries for underperforming
senior executives.”
Actor-filmmaker
George Clooney jumped into the fray by blasting Loeb: "[Loeb] calls
himself an activist investor, and I would call him a carpetbagger, and one who
is trying to spread a climate of fear that pushes studios to want to make only
tent poles," Clooney told Deadline. “A guy from a hedge fund entity is the
single least qualified person to be making these kinds of judgments, and he is
dangerous to our industry.” According to Clooney, whose production company is
working with Sony on the actor’s upcoming Oscar-seeking film, "The
Monuments Men," Loeb is attempting to frighten studio execs into sticking
with low risk, non-innovative film fare. [more...]
No comments:
Post a Comment