It must be nice to have money. When ordinary people get upset at the economic policies espoused by the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank, the labor practices of General Motors (NYSE:GM), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), or Nike (NYSE:NKE), or the sales tactics of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), they're pretty much limited to writing letters to the editor, posting angry rants on the Internet, or marching back and forth in front of a building, picket signs gripped with conviction.
But what if you had $100 million? Why then, dear Fool, you could have a real shot at making the object of your ire pay, and pay dearly. According to multiple sources, that theory will be put to the test over the next 12 months, as ex-stockbroker Max Keiser -- a self-described "investment activist" -- attempts to set up and fund a $100 million hedge fund for the express purpose of crashing the stock price of Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), a company that Mr. Keiser has for some reason taken an intense disliking to.
Among other complaints, Mr. Keiser asserts that Coke puts too much sugar in its sodas (watch out, PepsiCo (NYSE:PEP), and you, too, Hershey (NYSE:HSY)), hurts the environment in India, and abuses workers in Colombia. In punishment for these supposed misdeeds, Mr. Keiser has declared that Coke's stock price must be halved by 2006 and that any market cap destroyed in the process should be converted into hedge fund profits and distributed to Coke's "victims" around the world. To this end, he's counting first and foremost on Coke's recent bad financial news continuing; second, on consumers seeing the obvious connection between the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Coca-Cola's domination of the liquid-consuming world and refusing to "have a Coke" (no word yet on whether they must also eschew smiling); and, finally, on his $100 million hedge fund being able to slash about $45 billion from Coke's market cap by shorting Coke's shares.
In closing, I'm going to take the high road and pointedly refrain from making any joke whatsoever about megalomaniac stock brokers with names sounding like "Max Kaiser." I will, however, ask that you please play, in the back of your mind, the music to "He's got hi-i-i-gh hopes!"
Read more about hedge funds and the people who run them in:
Fool contributor Rich Smith has no position in any of the companies mentioned in this article.
