Dan Loeb - Lessons from 30 Years of Investing - [Invest Like the Best, EP.475]

My guest today is Dan Loeb, the founder and CEO of Third Point. Dan started Third Point in 1995 with a few million dollars, and today the firm manages over 24 billion across equities, corporate and structured credit, venture, and insurance. He is best known for his activist work at companies like Sotheby's, Sony, and Yahoo, and for the public letters he has written to boards over the years. What I find most interesting about Dan is how much his approach has evolved across thirty years. He came up as a credit and event-driven investor at Warburg Pincus and Jefferies, built Third Point, then layered in quality investing, thematic technology investing, and now a very large credit business that sits alongside the hedge fund. We cover how he thinks about the AI stack and the companies inside it he believes matter most, the difference between good and bad governance, what FTX taught him about due diligence, the Sony and Sotheby's stories, and the power of writing. Please enjoy my conversation with Dan Loeb. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ----- Become a Colossus member to get our quarterly print magazine and private audio experience, including exclusive profiles and early access to select episodes. Subscribe at ⁠colossus.com/subscribe⁠. ----- ⁠Ramp’s⁠ mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠ramp.com/invest⁠⁠ to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus. ----- Trusted by thousands of businesses, ⁠Vanta⁠ continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Invest Like the Best listeners get a special offer of $1,000 off Vanta when you go to ⁠vanta.com/invest⁠. ----- WorkOS⁠ is the infrastructure B2B and AI-native companies use to sell to enterprise. It covers everything enterprise security requires: SSO, SCIM, RBAC, Audit Logs, AI governance, and more. Trusted by 2,000+ fast-growing companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, and Vercel. ----- Rogo is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest. ----- ⁠Ridgeline⁠ has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ridgelineapps.com⁠. ----- Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thepodcastconsultant.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠). Timestamps: (00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best (00:02:29) Dan Loeb (00:03:21) Mental Models Information Overload (00:06:50) Dan's Identity as an Investor (00:11:24) The End of Classic Event-Driven Investing (00:13:52) Evolving Strategy Over 30 Years (00:17:48) Return Opportunities in Today's Market (00:21:12) Sources of Alpha for Fundamental Investors (00:22:10) Good vs. Bad Governance (00:26:17) Writing as an Investing Tool (00:27:29) The Sotheby's Story (00:30:04) Activism Opportunities Today (00:31:03) Third Point's Evolution to 60% Credit (00:36:10) Dan as Sole Portfolio Manager (00:38:09) Value Investor Perspective on Today's Market (00:39:23) Investing Outside the US (00:40:33) The Sony Activism Story (00:43:59) Lessons from 30 Years of Investing (00:46:26) Danaher and Operational Excellence (00:48:48) Building the Insurance Liability Business (00:51:19) The FTX Story (00:53:07) Leading a Team Through Uncertainty (00:54:29) Where Third Point Is Most Contrarian (00:56:22) What Makes a Great Analyst Today (00:58:12) The Next 10 Years (01:00:24) The Kindest Thing