Shark Watcher

Is Carl Icahn swimming around here anywhere? How about one of those angry private equity firms just waiting to go hostile on our little company and take it over? That's what a shark watcher firm does. They swim around, looking for share accumulation action wherein a given corporate raider begins to quickly accumulate stock with the intent of going hostile and taking over a target company against its will.

Early detection helps. If a company learns there's someone out there they should fear, they can adopt various board resolutions to stave off takeovers: PacMan Defense and Poison Pills and Suicide Pills, among others.

You may need a bigger boat.