What you need to know on Wall Street today
Bill Ackman's bid to add three directors, including himself, to ADP's board was rejected by the company's shareholders on Tuesday.
The billionaire founder of the hedge fund Pershing Square started a bitter proxy battle with the HR-software provider in August, calling for sweeping changes which included the replacement of CEO Carlos Rodriguez. Ackman's nominees were supported by less than 20% of ADP's shareholders, the company said.
With that defeat, we witnessed the fall of a Wall Street god, according to Business Insider's Linette Lopez.
Elsewhere in investing news, one of the hottest hedge fund launches of the year has doubled its assets in about six months. Bridgewater reportedly paid a $1 million settlement to an employee pushed out after a relationship with a top exec. Leucadia has doubled down on an investment in hedge fund Folger Hill.
And one of the world's hottest investment strategies is slowing - and that could shift the whole landscape.
In deal news, Disney has reportedly been in talks to buy most of 21st Century Fox. The deal could cost Disney $40 billion, according to Jefferies. Disney and Fox need a deal to take on the tech giants, according to Business Insider's Mike Shields. Just not this deal.
Elsewhere in deal news, Tesla is pushing forward with robot manufacturing, and traders are betting that Broadcom's record-setting hostile takeover of Qualcomm will get done.
The Tax Policy Center released an analysis on Monday of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, saying the bulk of the benefits from the GOP tax bill would go toward wealthier Americans. A couple of hours later, it retracted its analysis of the bill, following the discovery of an error with their analysis. Here are the rest of the headlines:
- One provision tucked in the bill could face significant resistance from some of the largest companies in the world
- Republicans dropped a slew of changes to their tax bill on Monday - here's what they mean
In related news, Forbes says Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross inflated his net worth.