The Trade That Put Bill Ackman on the Map: Forcing Wendy's to Spin Out Tim Hortons
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Episode Description
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Brief Summary
An investor shares their journey with Wendy's and Tim Hortons, highlighting challenges and a successful spin-off.
Key points
- Investing in Tim Hortons. The journey of investing in Tim Hortons began with a simple idea to double money.
- The CEO's Call Back. After a long wait, the CEO finally returns the call, but with surprising news.
Transcript
Actually, one of our first investments was Wendy's International. Wendy's owned Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee and donut chain. And the value of Tim Hortons was more than the entire value of Wendy's. We had this very simple idea. Buy Wendy's spin-off Tim Hortons double our money. And we bought 10% of the company and I called the CEO and he didn't return my call. And I called him again. He didn't return my call. I literally couldn't get a return phone call. That was the beginning. So, we actually called a friend who worked at Blackstone and Steve Schwarzman agreed to write a fairness opinion on what Wendy's would be worth if we spun off Tim Hortons. We kind of mailed it in and
filed it publicly and six weeks later they spun off to Hortons. >> And then the CEO finally called me back. He thanked me. He had gotten fired, but he thanked me because he had a huge exit package and and he was very
