Why Investors Are Buzzing About Williams Companies, Twitter, Walt Disney, and Two More Today

Activist Keith Meister of Corvex Capital has withdrawn from an impending proxy fight after Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) announced plans to change its Board composition by appointing Stephen Chazen and Peter Ragauss as new Board members and promising that three current Directors won’t run again during the company’s November annual meeting. In addition, Williams may add two more Independent Directors to the Board before said meeting. Meister said in a statement that his fund looks forward to working with the overhauled Board to unlock the company’s significant untapped value. 58 funds, including Corvex, were long Williams Companies Inc (NYSE:WMB) at the end of June, up by six funds from the end of March.

Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) is again in the spotlight after Bloomberg reported that Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) is evaluating a potential bid for the company. According to the article, Disney is working with a financial adviser as it mulls over just such a bid. Analysts think that Disney could potentially use Twitter as a distribution play to help offset the secular decline in its ESPN unit. Twitter has rather successfully shown live streams of NFL games through its platform, 10 of which will be streamed during the current NFL season. In addition, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is also on Disney’s Board of Directors.

30 hedge funds that we track were long Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) at the end of June, while 44 were long Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS).

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