But in the early 1990's, investors pressed St. Joe to start exploiting its assets for better shareholder returns.
For Vodafone's boss Vittorio Colao, these talks offer further proof that he has no qualms about dismantling a sprawling empire in search of better shareholder returns.
Walden is expected to lay out the reasons behind his rejection of Sainsbury's bid and why Home Retail could deliver better shareholder value itself on Thursday, when the company will reveal its Christmas trading performance.
ValueAct backed a turnaround plan at Adobe, a software maker, that sacrificed short-term earnings and took years to come good, says Mr Ubben.A study of activism in 1994-2007 by Lucian Bebchuk of Harvard Law School, and his colleagues, found that activist interventions lead to a sustained, if modest, improvement in operating performance and better shareholder returns.
Microsoft has also been pressed to better shareholder returns.
LinkedIn's stock sale looks a lot better for shareholders than an overpriced buyback.
In a statement, the chief executive, Richard D. Parsons, said paying cash was better for shareholders, despite the additional borrowing.
Investment banking is, these days, extremely costly in terms of the capital it requires and has always seemed to serve investment bankers better than shareholders.
At the heart of the dispute is the $137 billion pile of cash that Apple has accumulated, and whether it could be used to better reward shareholders.
Britain's short-termist culture means there is forever a temptation to take the latter option, because that goes down better with shareholders.
