DealZone

Jana Partners founder Barry Rosenstein last year told Reuters his targets were companies “that are not the best performers”. Apparently that strategy works.
Rosenstein, who started Jana in 2001 and has about $8 billion in assets under management, has targeted companies over the last year ranging from American Italian Pasta Co to TD Ameritrade to Chinese lathe maker Shenyang Machine Tool (Group) Co.

Some of Jana’s most high-profile campaigns were with Carl Icahn against Time Warner Inc and against oil and gas firm Kerr-McGee, both in 2005.

And now he’s going after online media and technology news company CNet Networks.

Whether or not his campaigns achieve all his aims, Rosenstein has made serious money for himself and his investors, according to Forbes magazine, which ranks the 48-year-old yoga fan the 380th richest American, worth $1.3 billion. “Founded Jana Partners hedge fund 2001; annual returns believed to be 23% after fees,” says Forbes. “Assets under management: $8.5 billion.”

That seems an appropriate return for a hedge fund whose name, in Roman mythology, represents Diana, goddess of the hunt to some.

(Picture: Metropolitan Museum of Art website)