Dan Loeb

Dan Loeb
Born	Daniel Seth Loeb
Nationality	American
Occupation	Hedge fund manager, investor
Title	Chief Executive Officer, Third Point LLC
Known for	Founder and CEO of Third Point LLC

Daniel Seth Loeb is an American hedge fund manager, investor, and the founder and chief executive officer of Third Point LLC, a New York-based hedge fund. Known for his aggressive activist investment style and his sharply worded letters to corporate boards and executives—sometimes referred to as "poison pen" letters—Loeb has established himself as one of the most prominent figures in the world of activist investing over the course of more than two decades. Third Point, which Loeb founded in 1995, employs an event-driven investment strategy that combines fundamental analysis with activist campaigns aimed at unlocking shareholder value at underperforming companies. Throughout his career, Loeb has launched high-profile campaigns against major corporations including Yahoo!, Sotheby's, Campbell Soup Company, and, more recently, CoStar Group. His investment portfolio, regularly disclosed through quarterly 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is closely watched by market participants and financial media for signals about his conviction-level bets and macro outlook.

Career

Founding of Third Point LLC

Dan Loeb founded Third Point LLC in 1995. The firm is headquartered in New York City and employs an event-driven investment strategy that focuses on value-oriented and activist positions across equities, credit, and other asset classes. Over the course of its history, Third Point has grown into one of the more prominent hedge funds in the United States, with Loeb serving continuously as its chief executive officer and primary portfolio manager.

The firm's investment approach combines deep fundamental research with a willingness to engage directly with corporate management and boards of directors when Loeb and his team believe that changes in strategy, governance, or leadership could enhance shareholder value. This activist component has been a defining feature of Third Point's strategy throughout its existence, distinguishing it from many other event-driven hedge funds that take a more passive approach to their holdings.

Activist Investing and "Poison Pen" Letters

Loeb has earned a reputation in the financial world for his combative style of shareholder activism. His letters to corporate boards and management teams have become notable for their blunt, sometimes caustic tone—a characteristic that has led financial journalists and investors to describe them as "poison pen" letters. In these communications, Loeb has historically laid out detailed critiques of management performance, corporate strategy, and board composition, often accompanied by specific demands for change including board seats, executive replacements, or strategic alternatives such as asset sales and spin-offs.

Third Point's last proxy fight prior to its 2026 campaign against CoStar Group was directed at Campbell Soup Company, which took place approximately a decade before. That campaign, like many of Loeb's activist efforts, attracted significant attention from both the financial press and other institutional investors, and was characterized by the same pointed rhetoric that became a hallmark of Loeb's activist style. Between the Campbell's campaign and the 2026 CoStar effort, Third Point had not mounted a full proxy fight for roughly three years as of January 2026, though Loeb continued to take activist-oriented positions in various companies during this period.

The return to active proxy campaigning in early 2026 was seen by observers as a revival of the more aggressive posture that had originally made Loeb famous in investment circles. CNBC reported that "investors are seeing shades of yesteryear's Dan Loeb" in the letter he wrote to the CoStar board, suggesting that the campaign represented a deliberate return to the style that had defined his career during his most prominent activist campaigns of the 2000s and 2010s.

CoStar Group Campaign (2026)

In January 2026, Third Point launched what was described as its first activist campaign in three years, targeting CoStar Group, the owner of major commercial real estate information and marketplace platforms. According to Reuters, Third Point planned to push for changes at CoStar, seeking to force the company to address what Loeb's firm viewed as issues with corporate governance and strategic direction.

As part of the campaign, Loeb wrote a letter to the CoStar board calling for a board refresh—a demand to replace some or all of the existing directors with candidates more aligned with Third Point's views on how the company should be managed and governed. The letter was notable for its sharp tone, which recalled the style of Loeb's earlier activist campaigns and prompted widespread media coverage. CNBC characterized the letter as Loeb "dusting off his poison pen," indicating that the communication carried the kind of forceful language for which Loeb had become known.

The Semafor news outlet reported on the campaign in the context of Loeb's broader career as an activist investor, noting that Third Point's last proxy fight had been approximately a decade earlier against Campbell Soup Company. The return to a full-scale activist campaign was framed as a significant moment both for Third Point and for the broader hedge fund industry, which had seen a general shift away from the confrontational activism that characterized the 2010s.

Investment Strategy and Portfolio (2025–2026)

Third Point's investment approach, as revealed through its quarterly 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, reflects Loeb's broader macroeconomic views and sector-level convictions. The latest 13F filing, covering the fourth quarter of 2025, provided a detailed view of how Loeb was positioning capital as of year-end amid what was described as shifting macro conditions heading into 2026.

As of the fourth quarter of 2025, Third Point's top holdings included PG&E Corporation (PCG), NVIDIA (NVDA), Union Pacific (UNP), and Amazon (AMZN), according to analysis by Seeking Alpha. The same analysis noted that the New York-based hedge fund had seen a gain of 3.08% over the preceding one-year period, compared to the broader S&P 500 index's return of 12.25% over the same timeframe, indicating a period of relative underperformance against the benchmark.

In addition to its core holdings, Third Point made several notable new investments during the fourth quarter of 2025. According to Barchart.com, Loeb initiated new positions in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Spotify Technology, and Alibaba Group. These were characterized as concentrated bets reflecting Loeb's view that markets had overreacted to negative sentiment in sectors where the underlying companies remained profitable. The analysis framed the new positions as reflecting a contrarian streak in Loeb's investment philosophy—a willingness to buy into companies facing short-term headwinds based on a conviction that the market was mispricing their fundamental value.

Third Point also disclosed during the same period that it had acquired 475,000 shares in a nuclear energy company during the fourth quarter of 2025, reflecting an emerging interest in the energy sector. This investment was noted by financial media as a significant new position and was interpreted as part of a broader thematic bet on the future of nuclear energy as a component of the energy transition.

The portfolio positioning heading into 2026 reflected a diversified approach spanning technology (NVIDIA, Amazon, Spotify), consumer brands (Chipotle), international e-commerce (Alibaba), infrastructure (Union Pacific), utilities (PG&E), and energy (nuclear). This diversification across sectors, combined with the activist campaign at CoStar Group, demonstrated that Third Point continued to employ a multi-pronged strategy combining passive equity holdings with active corporate engagement.

Notable Past Activist Campaigns

Over the course of his career, Loeb has engaged in a series of high-profile activist campaigns against major public companies. Among the most prominent was his campaign against Campbell Soup Company, which involved a proxy contest and attracted significant media coverage. The campaign, which took place roughly a decade before the 2026 CoStar effort, was remembered by Semafor as having "delighted shareholders" through Loeb's "biting letters and scorched-earth attacks." This description captures the essence of Loeb's approach to activism: a combination of detailed financial analysis, specific strategic proposals, and forceful public rhetoric designed to pressure boards and management into action.

Other notable activist campaigns during Loeb's career have included engagements with Yahoo!, Sotheby's, Sony, and various other companies across multiple sectors. These campaigns established a pattern in which Third Point would accumulate a significant stake in a target company, publicly disclose its position and views through letters or regulatory filings, and then pursue board representation or other changes through negotiation or, if necessary, proxy contests.

Personal Life

Loeb is a billionaire investor based in New York. Details about his personal life beyond his professional activities have been documented in various media profiles over the years, though Loeb is primarily known in public discourse for his investment career and activist campaigns rather than for personal matters.

Recognition

Dan Loeb's status as a prominent figure in the hedge fund industry has been established through decades of investment activity and high-profile activist campaigns. His 13F filings are routinely covered by major financial publications including CNBC, Reuters, Seeking Alpha, and Barchart.com, reflecting the degree of interest that market participants have in his investment decisions.

His letters to corporate boards have been the subject of extensive media coverage and analysis, with publications frequently characterizing them as among the most notable examples of activist shareholder communication. The 2026 CNBC coverage of his CoStar letter specifically noted that the missive recalled "yesteryear's Dan Loeb," suggesting that his earlier activist communications had achieved a degree of notoriety that remained culturally resonant within the financial industry years after they were written.

Reuters reported on the CoStar campaign as an exclusive story, further demonstrating the level of media attention that Loeb's activist activities continue to command. The Semafor profile of the campaign placed it in the broader context of Loeb's career, characterizing Third Point's return to proxy fighting as a significant event in the hedge fund industry.

Loeb is consistently described in financial media as a billionaire, reflecting the personal wealth he has accumulated through his management of Third Point and his personal investments over several decades.

Legacy

Dan Loeb's career at Third Point LLC has spanned more than three decades since the firm's founding in 1995, making him one of the longest-serving and most recognizable hedge fund managers in the United States. His influence on the practice of shareholder activism has been significant; the model of combining detailed fundamental research with aggressive public advocacy for corporate change that Loeb popularized has been adopted and adapted by numerous other activist investors.

The "poison pen" letters for which Loeb became famous represented an innovation in the style of activist communication. Prior to Loeb's emergence as a prominent activist, many shareholder campaigns were conducted through more measured, formally diplomatic correspondence. Loeb's willingness to employ colorful, pointed, and sometimes personal language in his letters attracted media attention that amplified the pressure on target companies beyond what the financial merits of his arguments alone might have achieved.

The 2026 CoStar campaign demonstrated that even after a period of relative quiet in terms of proxy contests, Loeb's return to aggressive activism could still command significant media attention and market interest. The fact that financial journalists characterized the campaign by comparing it to his earlier work suggests that Loeb's approach to activism has become a benchmark against which other activist campaigns are measured.

Third Point's continued operation and relevance in 2026, more than thirty years after its founding, places Loeb among a small cohort of hedge fund managers who have maintained prominent positions in the industry over multiple market cycles. His portfolio decisions, as reflected in quarterly 13F filings, continue to be treated as market-moving information by financial media and other investors, underscoring the influence that Loeb and Third Point maintain in the investment community.