Cohodes: Force of Nature, Market Casualty
Richard Teitelbaum · 2015
This chapter begins with a discussion on Marc Cohodes' meeting with Gaston Bastiaens, CEO of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products, a Belgian maker of voice recognition software, switchboards, and other gear. Cohodes, general partner of Rocker Partners LP, hired an Asia-based analyst to track down the purported customers that L&H listed in its SEC filings. Like many dedicated short sellers, Cohodes is juiced by a passion for calling out bad actors. His hit list over the years includes a roster of companies whose products, at least in some people's eyes, could arguably be called as dubious as their share prices. Cohodes learned the art of the short sale, too. One of the hottest leisure stocks was Bally Manufacturing Co., maker of arcade games like Pac-Man and Space Invaders. Cohodes developed an encyclopedic understanding of the various instances of corporate malfeasance.