Activist investors have existed almost as long as corporations themselves, and their agendas are as varied as their tactics. Typically cloaking themselves in the noble cause of "shareholder rights," activists are much more often motivated by the more basic vices of egotism and greed. Their strategy is usually to impose substantial leverage and chaos on the management of a corporation in a way that allows them to use the resulting governing instability to promote and achieve their own interests. Continue reading >