. >> allergan has adopted a so-called poison pill.areholder rights claim that prevents them from buying more shares in the company as the board gets more time to consider whether to reject or get more information on this bid. >>> let's explore a little bit more whether bill ackman's stake in allergan is legal or illegal. let's turn to a former lawyer with the fcc, so adam, is this insider trading and if not, should investors be troubled0]% that it is legal? >> it is trading on inside information, but the securities laws prohibit fraud not trading on inside information. because mr. ackman got the information from valiant, not allergan, it is not fraud. so the -- mr. ackman knows more than other investors in the market? but he got the information legitimately from valiant. >> but you have to admit, it smell s bad, back in the '80s, e got information on others who attempted to buy the company, shares would pop, company would buy those shares back from that person. we call that green mail, i'm not saying that is where bill ackman is going

with allergan stock price soaring. it's hard to imagine and say no we're not going to do a deal at this point. one of the last transactions valeant tried to do was with seferlon. hard to sketch out who those potential white knights might be. back to the overall headline. we have not seen this in the past. activism has become an important force in our markets. this is yet another milestone as we watch mr. ackman build a large position as part of a group with valeant and valeant will follow through with this through allergan. >> thank you on this potential deal. dan, do we see any sniff of activity that this could be announced? >> it's not a huge trader, allergan in general. but there was 3,500 of the may calls that were bought and some of the 2,500. this stock is up massively. look at the chart over the last six to nine months. this is a company growing sales at 9%. trading at 20-some times. next year's earnings. i don't know if there's a white knight who comes in for this thi thing. >> what was unusual it was up 6%. th

allergan is going to be up.e're talking about a deal that is exceeding $45 billion, the move up in valeant stock keep an eye on it. the path here, they've missed the annual meeting. you can act by -- you can act by 25% to call a special meeting but you need a 50% vote to actually vote out all the directors. so this could be a battle at the same time with the stock moving from 116 to 166, it's going to be difficult for allergan to say no, thank you. the question is what they will choose to do. they will have some time to figure out a strategy. of course we're going to be following this battle a long time i have a sense to come. >> one last thing. the analyst, many, many analysts downgraded the stock from 120 down to 80. as david came on "mad money," over and over, said don't worry about patent protection for the op that mall drug. he was right. once they got the patent protection and not worried about the generic this thing has been on fire and then scott wapner reported the talks had gone on, congratulations sco

he's making waves as he teams up with valeant in a bid for allergan. we'll talk about this more coming up, including comments from carl icahn. he was on the opposite side on herbalife. there's a lot of enimity. >> at one point he said i have nothing at bill ackman. he made me $400 million. i like him. >> there's been a lot of bad blood there. >> he was saying in a way he took advantage of him. >>> dow chemical, procter & gamble, boeing, apple and facebook all being released today. a lot coming up. at 7:30 eastern time, the dow chemical ceo will be joining us and we'll be hearing from at&t ceo john stevens. the company says it had a higher than expect ed amount of customers switching to a new plan. if you take a look at what's been happening with at&t shares, you'll see at least it was down by 2% after hours, i think. 35.50 was the last trade. >> yum brands getting a boost from stronger sales. where it's most important, china, the parent of kfc, taco bell and pizza hut says that first quarter sales in china rose 9%. customer in china are buying more chi

first to similar the r&d budget which has created so much value for allergan. of course that means firing people. and valeant is overseas, so it's less tax consequences. the deal made a lot of sense. the dermal filler for the lower half of the face and complements allergan's botox for the upper part. you can immediately fire all the salespeople for the two companies if you combine them. it was dovetail with many relationships. more firings, more profits. the bottom line is i think piatt deserves better. i hope this great company isn't dismantl dismantled, but with the team, i have to believe that's precisely what will happen. joe in connecticut, joe? >> caller: boo-yah, jim. specifically with clients addicted to opiate-based painkillers. i want your take on ptie, who develops abuse resistant forms of pain management drugs. first, dodds this an area worthy of investing, and second do you see this as a company that could le acquired down the road. >> i have looked at these guys it's a small-cap stock. i've got to do more, someone on twitter is constantly pushing

he's taken shares in both valeant, which is looking to take over allergan, as well as allergan itself. he's now their single largest shareholder. a lot of interesting discussion about the benefits of this put together. the idea of the durability of assets that would bring to valeant as part of the merger with allergan, the idea there are less patent issues than with other similar potential mergers. the focus that valeant puts on sales and how they've seen that's helpful to results in terms of emerging markets as well as the u.s. over-the-counter products as well as patented products. a lot of interesting detail there. i do notice a change of tone in bill ackman. he's still got the funny one-liners, and i'll bring one to you in a second. he also sounds like he'll take a totally different tact. he's been representing this book called "the outsiders," and he said outsiders will be a part of his theme today. he talked about the points in the book which is about entrepreneurs, and one of the things he note sd things like the media and wall street and interactions with them, brian, are a di

allergan says no. it's not a done deal. i think allergan would be hostile anyway.now the prospects. >> i'm guessing if he had announced his stake without any parp, i think given his representation the market would like that as well. you bought it as it is running out. >> i bought my 10%. then we will announce you and i and a bunch of others are going to buy it. and that runs it up. >> that's legal too though. >> it feels a little different to me. you're right if this was just an announcement without valeant. >> i'm guessing you have good legal counsel as well. >> it feels different to me. >> there's no guarantee a deal would be done. >> comcast out with quarterly numbers early this hour. earning 68 cents a share. it was well above expectation. looming price increase after solid first quarter results. earning 86 cents a share. rich greenfield is the media and technology analyst. great to see you this morning. >> thanks for having me. >> let's go through this morning's numbers first. comcast, what do you think? >> nothing terribly surprising in the comcast results. t

offer of a premium from allergan would come above $115 a share. allergan started trading at before pershing square rapidly acquired its stake. today's shares closed up 6% at $142. what? we're at $140 at the moment for valiant. one more time, i'm sorry. you keep talking -- valiant is up 11% but we also had as we say, aller fan, the maker of botox and they have a lock on that business up 6%. so somebody, sure sound, david like the news was leaking out, doesn't it? david: allergan is definitely getting best of it after-hours. we'll see if the numbers continue. there is the after-hours of allergan. up just as you say about 6% right now. we'll see if those numbers stick tomorrow. liz: okay. hedge funds, in the drivers's seat of the gold market roller coaster. driver's seat but are they crashing investors money? individual investors are not sure what could happen next as many hedge funds say, let's cry uncle and get out of gold. we come back and tell you what you need to know in order to keep up with the big boys. david: gm tries to shake off the recall

valeant pharmaceuticals and pershing square teaming up to try to acquire allergan, but does allergan have a chance of fending them off? meg joins us with one possible plan. people may speculate on whether there could be a white knight out there. >> right. >> but with the stocks moving the way they are, it looks unlikely. >> that could be tough. it's an interesting sort of twist on that idea here. even though allergan put a poison pill in place earlier, one analyst is suggesting they take a much bigger tactic as a defense against valeant, and that is buying an irish company called shier. now, shier makes an adhd drug, and it has that irish tax base, and it would be a $40 billion acquisition, essentially as a defense, making allergan too big for valeant to buy. so this is the idea that this analyst is floating. it has the tax synergies, the big drug, vyvanse, and we'll see if they -- >> does it pass the smell test, that something like that is possible? >> it's definitely possible, the way this analyst, ken, outlines it. he thinks what they'd have to do is issue more shares, more debt,

did his play on allergan cross the line? >>> plus coke cola with my good colleague sara eisen. >> a big shareholder meeting is under way. the ceo is addressing the crowd. and some of the drama in this meeting, after the break. er the. [ grunting ] i'm taking off, but, uh, don't worry. i'm gonna leave the tv on for you. and if anything happens, don't forget about the new xfinity my account app. you can troubleshoot technical issues here. if you make an appointment, you can check out the status here. you can pay the bill, too. but don't worry about that right now. okay. how do i look? ♪ thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. >>> welcome back to "power lunch." i'm seema mody. check out the defense sector, having a nice day, all a boost from strong earnings from the likes of general dynamics and northrop grumman. simon, over to you. >>> thank you, seema. >>> coca-cola's ceo is speaking today. shares for the session flat, but they've had

after the break, we're going straight to the source on valeant's huge bid to buy out allergan. stay tuned. ♪ "first day of my life" by bright eyes ♪ you're not just looking for a house. you're looking for a place for your life to happen. >>> valeant >>> valeant pharmaceuticals and bill ackman offering to buy allergan with a $47 billion bid. we sat down for an exclusive interview with one of valeant's shareholders. david. >> thanks. it's about 24 hours since we heard the very big news and that has played out today with allergan shares up 14% and valeant adding another 7%. that's a good day. which has been one of valeant's largest shareholders for eight years. in fact, they were there before mike pearson took over as ceo helping to formulate some of the strategy that has been followed by valeant as it has pursued aggressive acquisitions using a very low tax rate and strategy of taking r and d out of many of the companies it acquires. i ask what it is about the strategy that he likes and why it is, in fact, that his man, his partner, mason, is going to be stepping off the board of

who recently took a stake in allergan. the combined stock, $45.7 billion. it's around $153 a share and you can see allergan has risen above that level. netflix, we were talking about this yesterday, the company came out with earnings that beat estimates and added more subscribers particularly internationally, the numbers coming in better than estimated and also getting a lot of attention, netflix says it is going to raise prices for new customers later this year by a buck or two. the last time it tried to raise prices didn't go so well but this time investors are happy about it. >> thanks very much for that. time for the big story, american broadcasters versus aero. the u.s. supreme court heard arguments in a case that could change the future of television as we know it. aero backed by jerry diller is a startup disrupting the broadcast industry decades old business model by using tiny antennas to transmit broadcast tv signals to subscribers without paying for the content. they say it's a copyright infringement since they'r

checking the share of allergan and valeant, basically allergan down about 1 3rer%, valeant up t 1.5%.icahn making news today. he has been at this for years and now he wants to practice to continue well into the future. in an continuer view with cnbc's david faber, icahn says activists per phenomenon an important service and he plans to back the next generation of investors. >> i would like to see more of this done. done by the real good guys. i think it's very hard to break into the business of activism. you have to have staying power. you have to have a fairly good bank roll. >> icahn also talked about butting heads with bill ackman in the past over herbalife and weighed in on ackman's bid for allergan. >> you know, frankly, with all the stuff i've said with ackman, back and forth, back and forth, i think he's dead wrong about herbalife and we have our differences but i never said he's not a smart guy. >> right. >> and i think the concept of this is good. i hope it works out better for him. >> and a program note, bill ackman will be on "squawk box" this morning at 7:30 a.m. eastern t

bill ackman pursuing a takeover of allergan.bc contributor herb greenberg who has covered these companies extensively. herb, your initial thoughts? >> i did a piece on whether valiant will overdose on acquisitions. this is just back in january. people don't know valiant. valiant is a huge rollup. you have to understand this, of drug companies. its goal is to have $150 billion in market cap over the next three years. allergan is $42 billion in market cap. valeant is $42 billion, so that gets you to 80. they said they wanted to do a merger real soon. this is that merger of equals. >> what do we make of the fact the stock is higher? generally, when you see a company get acquired, the stock moves higher, but valeant has moved higher by 10%. why is that? >> this is fitting with the strategy people expect for the company right now. i think this is also going to start shining a bigger spotlight on valeant, and so, i think going forward after the sort of dust falls from this, people will look at valeant, look at the balance sheet, looki

ackman's began building its stake in allergan in february. valeant says it will finalize and announce its proposal soon. the board will evaluate any offer but advises shareholders not to do anything right now. you can see valeant and shares of allergan higher in today's trade. >>> astrazeneca, their shares are soaring in london on reports of an informal takeover offer from american rival pfizer. cnbc understands that pfizer is mulling an offer which values astrazeneca at more than $100 billion. a huge deal. a separate report says that astra has hired morgan stanley and goldman sachs to advise on the potential takeover bid. then you also have the swiss pharmaceutical company novartis unveiling big changes to its portfolio because it's going to be acquiring the oncology division of glaxo smithkline for $14.5 billion. but it's also selling glaxo smithkline its vaccine unit for $5.25 billion. in a different deal, novartis is selling its animal health division to eli lilly for $5.4 billion. got that? there's a lot going on. cnbc's katherine boyle

they've got time at allergan and they will consider their options.ne might be to try to find a tax inversion of their own. that's why shire was up yesterday. >> right. >> jazz was up yesterday. >> that's a great point. >> do you find a tax inversion? try to weather the storm. maybe lever up a little bit, pay a big special dividend? can you do that? do you have to say, okay, guys, give us a bigger number and we're happy to go along with you. >> tremendous irony. piad comes on all the time at "mad money." >> the ceo of allergen. >> and the hallmark of what he says, these other guys, these big drug companies, they're all sales forces. not us. we're an r and d machine. put 16% of our cap capital in r and d. along comes a company which says they do a lot of r and d on squawk this morning, along comes a company that basically says we're going to fire most of your r and d people, stop all that nonsense and fire people, fire your sales people in derma, won't say -- this is my prediction of what can happen n op that ma logical. a company that has a great r an

allergan.- way, a fine looking bowtie. we decided to be inspired i mr. ackman in the twitter question of the day. if you were bill ackman, what would you target next? he has been very busy whether it is netflix or herbalife. we steer away from the corporate world and go to politics. joe biden in kiev to show solidarity with the ukraine. his message is we want to be your friend, your partner. john kerry warning there will be consequences. script.t to rip up the what did you learn on your european trip? >> that google maps is superior to apple map. quietseems to be calm and after the european debt crisis from a couple of years ago. you do not sense the panic. at least in italy. >> your children were well behaved? >> they were well behaved. very cool you drag your children around euro. a dead market. how will the economy performed? summer, fall and winter of 2000 14. robert roberson has seen quiet times before. guest host. she strategist at sandler o'neill. also joining us is jon erlichman. what the title. that is so cool. chief senior west coast correspond

is there anything wrong with the way bill ackman built his stake in allergan? eamon weighs in next. >>> mike murphy is running away from the stock, and they'll battle it out next. in today's market, a lot can happen in a second. with fidelity's guaranteed one-second trade execution, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price, maybe even better than you expected. it's all part of our goal to execute your trade in one second. i'm derrick chan of fidelity investments. our one-second trade execution is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. did you get my e-mail? [ man ] i did. so, what'd you think of the house? did you see the school rating? oh, you're right. hey, babe, i got to go. bye, daddy. have a good day at school, okay? ♪ [ man ] but what about when my parents visit? okay. just love this one. it's next to a park. [ man ] i love it. i love it, too. here's your new house. ♪ daddy! [ male announcer ] you're not just looking for a house. you'r

allergan does not look like it wants to be bought now.looks like we're going to have a takeover battle here. >> what is at stake? >> valleant is an interesting company. it is a exeand company. hey were doing general air,. -- generic. he is doing that through acquisitions. bauch and hey bought lomb. this is quite a bit larger. that is what is what is at stake for valeant. for ackman, making up for this herbal life snaff . they ended up locked in with carl ai kahn and others. >> -- icahn. >> this is a hostile takeover. the two don't necessarily or normally fit together. >> well, the activist generally wants a company to get bought. he has taken out that step. yes, this is a bit new. new to see an act vibs. typically you would think of activists in the corporate world being almost in opposition. vator as ckman, ino always. >> if you enjoy 3-d films, check out what could be the next frontier for movies. 4-d. the technology bringsfects like moving chairs, smoke and wind to theater goers. ut will audiences like it? john erlichman went to get a

not surprising, the bid for allergan haz moved the stock up 15%.at move, that stock up higher as well. >> learned a new phrase, tax inversion up there with polar vortex. that will do it. >> "street signs" begins right now about brian sullivan. >>> is owning a home one of the dumbest financial moves you can make? hi, everybody. welcome to "street signs." how is that for an open. realtors save your nasty-grams until it's over. >>> but who might be the next biotech to get bought? iconic investor bobs on steen is here with what he's calling one of the biggest accounting

to provide advice to allergan.oard don't need you anymore. >> especially with the financing lined up. alledeli --professor at the columbia business school. >> coming up, not all government contractors to get hit on -- the numbers only come back. >> if you missed any of our interviews, foolish under par, b can watch us on apple tv and fire tv, and streaming online on the bloomberg app. stay with us. >> welcome back. ons is "market makers" bloomberg television. 2014 was a tough year to be a severance contractor. many of the company's top suppliers took a big hit last year. peter cook has more on these exclusive rankings. peter, i think back to 2013, and the first word that comes to mind is sequestration. is that what this is all about? >> it shows that there is some real pain from sequestration last year. you can see this with bloomberg government, 200. the top list of federal contractors. it does not mean that contractors do not make plenty of money working with uncle sam. even with a tight budget some companies eve

with the support of bill ackman, who recently amassed a nearly 10% stake in allergan. he and valeant say they do not see an antitrust issues. mcdonald's investors might not be loving it. the world's largest restaurant chain posted earnings that missed estimates. mcdonald's sales came in later than expected, particularly in the u.s. where they have been struggling. a momentl be back in from washington. right outside the supreme court. more with my exclusive interview with aereo's ceo chet kanojia. ♪ >> your tv on trial. broadcasters versus aereo. live on bloomberg television, streaming on bloomberg.com. you can get bloomberg tv on aereo. our coverage of the supreme court case over aereo. cory johnson will be at my cohost. is whether aereo should pay for this content the same as cable operators. ,or aereo's ceo, chet kanojia the answer is no. he says he is providing the equipment to transfer this data. i asked him how he differs from cable operators. >> there is a huge difference between a cable company and aereo. if you look at technology itself. cable companies take th

just remind me, what does allergan actually do? >> today i got back into my favorite jeans. >> i had a really good hair day. >> i found some great shoes on retail. >> i asked my doctor about botox cosmetic. >> that's right, they are the maker of botox. they accounted for about one third of the company's sales last year. valiant has had a focus on generic drugs, but they are expanding into specialty medicines. the ceo took the helm and spent $19 billion on 35 companies. why partner with bill ackman? >> a bill in pershing square is much better at trading and doing that type of thing. we don't have people with those capabilities. second, we did not have $4 billion to put at risk. mr. ackman and his team have contributed $4 billion towards our cause, they can be an independent voice. they are the largest shareholder we have. finally, in terms of the probability of this deal being done, having a third-party validating our business model that truly believes the combination of this for the short-term and long-term, that is a huge asset. >

allergan, so many reports involving allergan as you might expect yesterday.hat they are at least considering shire which would be a tax inversion. >> right. >> another this morning reports of santa fe or j&j. if you are allergan's bankers, the annual meetings next week, they have time, that is one thing they have at this point. there's nothing coming on at the meeting that's going to force their hand in any way. if you're their bankers at goldman sachs and b of a, merrill, you're going to knock on doors, you're going to be happy to have that get out there, and put pressure on valeant to have to raise the bid if you do sit down to discuss it and try to hammer something out with them or come up with a viable alternative. the question comes back to tax inversions and the rate. if you are a company that is not inverted, for example, how are you going to be able to get the same synergies and/or cost savings, the synergies between valeant and allergan are significant and that tax rate which will come down perhaps high single digits which is higher than valeant's cu

ackman is making a push with valeant pharmaceuticals to purchase allergen. ♪ -- allergan. tomorrow on bloomberg. >> thousands of people gather this weekend in denver, colorado's civic center park. they were celebrating the legalization of marijuana in the state park. the first legal outlets opened this year. joining me now is openvape's chief revenue officer, todd mitchell. tell me about the company. >> we are about 125 employees in colorado. we license in multiple states around the country. we are in california, washington, soon to be oregon, and colorado and soon-to-be in others. we grew last year about 12%. >> in terms of sales? >> yes, and growth of market capture. >> tell us about the product. what are you selling? >> it is a vaporizing been -- pen company. we have a battery attached to a cartridge that is filled with cannabis oil. you're able to vaporize that at a certain temperature. the battery heats the cartridge and the cartridge produces vapor. >> and this has been approved for medical use of marijuana? >> in the states where they only have medicinal law, then t

stocks soared on details of the bid, with allergan up 21 dollars, and valent shooting up 9.why has the deal has captivated investors? here's damien conover of morningstar. "i think it highlights one of the key themes that we are seeing the pharmaceutical space which is...there is a bit of a lack of innovation in bringing out new products to the market. that combined with more aggressive price negotions by peer groups have really forced pharmaceutical groups to look at ways to maximize value with the assets that they have." conover adds that when activists such as bill ackman get involved in companies... investors start to see more potential. chuck coppola takes it from here with another big pharma deal. chuck coppola takes it from here with another big pharma deal. bill... big pharma works together, separately. stocks moved yesterday on what's being called a major 3-part transaction in the drug industry. glaxosmith kline is selling its cancer products business to novartis for the price tag of 14 and a half billion dollars. novartis will turn over its animal health division to u.s. firm

allergan gets targeted for a takeover. >> who is getting behind the wheel after alan mulally? manchester united takes to its coacho say has left the club. good morning to our viewers in europe, good evening to those in asia, and a very warm welcome to those just waking up in the u.s. i am guy johnson. >> i am francine lacqua. this is "the pulse," live from bloomberg's european headquarters in london. >> we will be talking about how did we invest in technology. ariadne capital's julie meyer was one of the first to back skype. what is new in the startup landscape that she has her eye on. the drugg day for industry. novartis overhauls its product portfolio and announces to the billion-dollar deals with glaxosmithkline and eli lilly. >> allergan, the botox maker, byng targeted for a takeover bill ackerman's pershing square. samplespbell and elliott -- sam fazelli. a bus,a -- you wait for come., suddenly they all >> pharma tuesday is the working title. it is obviously an element of coincidence but we are seeing big deals in the form of space coming roughly at the same time. it tell

pershing square capital management and valeant (val-ee-ant) pharmaceuticals sealed a deal to buy allergan for $46 billion dollars. the stock surged 15 percent after the announcement.ackman said in an interview with c-n-b-c that he did not violate securities law in his deal to buy allergan.he says legally, he is allowed to trade on inside information as long as the source did not breach confidentiality rules. tomorrow marks a new day for nokia, when microsoft's acquisition of the company's device and services business becomes official. the popularity of apple and samsung devices has delivered a blow to nokia's bottom line.however, analysts expect teaming with microsoft represents a fresh start. meantime... i-b-m attempts to take the lead in the chip market. it has released it's new chip technology called power eight. ibm partnered with google for the innovation. it says the chips are speedy, and able to handle more data. watch out netflix, amazon is comming on strong. starting in may -- if you subscribe to amazon prime you'll be able to get h-b-o shows like older favorities the wire and th

being bought by allergan.hey reportedly approached johnstone & johnstone, and other firms to gauge their interest in buying the company. >>> shares of coach plunged after the retailer reported quarterly profits and that is where we begin tonight's market focus. earnings fell 20%. the handbag accessories said that the sales fell due to competition. the sharp drop sent the stock to $45.71. bristol myers helped by cost cuts and lower taxes. but revenues, missed estimates and shares fell on concerns over a possible delay in completing the marketing application for the high-profile cancer drug. bristol fell to 49.32. >>> and biggest u.s. tire maker hurt by severe weather in north america. and a labor dispute in venezuela also took a $132 million charge related to a drop in the value of venezuela's currency. shares fell 7 and a half percent to $25.11. ibm's board improved a 16% increase in the quarterly dividend which is now $1.10 a share. paid to stockholders in june. this is the 19th year in a row that the company

allergan is seeking a poison-filled letters to fend off this acquisition. allergan up.ix, after its results yesterday, the results better than anticipated, but would everyone is focused on is the announcement of a price increase for new customers, one dollars to two dollars -- one dollar to two dollars. >> mcdonald's turned out pretty good 90 days given the weather. it is the great mystery of american economics, how the rest of the year will fare after the ugly winter. in recent years, it has been a summer swing. according to morgan stanley ellen zentner plus, looks good to robust. starting with an early may 2 jobs report. she senior u.s. economist at morgan stanley. am i right, 250,000 statistic for nonfarm payrolls? >> what we felt was march and april would be the strongest months for job growth because they would both have some of the payback from the three months and rohit had weather. in march, the weather was comparatively much better than earlier in the year, but still wasn't quite back to normal. the low level of jobless claims is something that informs that vie

not surprising, the bid for allergan haz moved the stock up 15%. harley-davidson, that move, that stock up higher as well. >> learned a new phrase, tax inversion up there with polar vortex. that will do it. >> "street signs" begins right now about brian sullivan. >>> is owning a home one of the dumbest financial moves you can make? hi, everybody. welcome to "street signs." how is that for an open. realtors save your nasty-grams until it's over. >>> but who might be the next biotech to get bought? iconic investor bobs on steen is here with what he's calling one of the biggest accounting abuses going on in america. >>> and what the government just did, but melissa lee, this is really starting to become the energizer bunny stock market, is it not? >> it really is, brian. no surprise strength in biotechs as well as health care today on the back of that farm apalooza. we do see the biggest games up by more than 1%. in fact, three sectors making new highs, transports, energy as well as staples. mayy? >> as you mentioned, the s&p is inching toward a recor

stake inave a 10% allergan as well.on between the activist investor right now? >> there is no conversation, they are just basically not responding when they don't reach out. i know there was a recent conversation through back channels, if you will, where they were trying to get them to sit down. so far there has been no dialogue whatsoever. do, then?n they >> they can try to speak to the investors about long-term best options. cutting r&d, you will get up piece of the future, which will be of more value to you down the road. >> they may not be interested, but what are the other options? can they go out and make purchases? >> they were looking at another company called scheier. there is a buyer out there, german, that has approached them to see if there is an interest in doing a deal. they are looking at a $14 billion and $15 billion deal with merck. >> could not have ended that better. crazy times. thank you so much, bloomberg news. jeff mccracken, we appreciate it . as the u.s. imposes an of sanctions on vladimir putin

that is an attractive proposition for us and allergan valiant shareholders.life stock overvalued and the pyramid scheme. what they're telling the market is that there are some serious -- they see evidence of serious problems with the company. the fcc's track record in going after pyramid schemes is pretty much 100%. is currently being investigated by the federal trade commission under the department of justice. last week, the illinois attorney general announced that his office is investigating consumer complaints into the company. herbal life says it is confident it has complied with all applicable laws. we also heard exclusively from .imco's former ceo his first interview since his very public exit from pimco. his move was one that shocked wall street and caused the founder to self reflect on his management style and personality. liu -- he hadetty nothing t bad to say about the bond king. >> bill is one of the best investors. i had the privilege of watching him in action and he is a great investor. someone who is able to differentiate signals from noise and

saw this yesterday with bill ackman going out there and frankly, spearheading the acquisition of allergan>> we will get into that deal. i'm curious, why is it that they have chosen now to make this three-way swap? >> there is the cynical side of me that says, there is a banking reform act and investors are saying, you've got to do something because revenues are going down, and you can only grow earnings per share by cutting. let's focus on core competence. let's increase the sales we know are predictable, because shareholders like critic ability. that is what they are focusing on. like because shareholders predictability. that is what they are focusing on. >> shannon, is that what is going on here? >> a lot of these deals seem to come in clusters. i don't know if that is the investment bankers talking amongst themselves, but a lot of times when you see one, you see more. >> there was the talk about the .fizer astrazeneca deal and that would have created a powerhouse. i mean, they are all powerhouses. >> and that is what we are talking about here, with companies specializing. pfizer and as

meanwhile, late word out this afternoon at bill ackman is set to be teaming up for a takeover .f allergan he owns a stake of nearly 10%. and forbes will name a mark as ceo of his -- that according to two people familiar with the pending announcement. back to you. >> let's get more on netflix. it very strange. here we are in new york. the release. at >> you looked at what su keenan said. this is a company with a business that in a lot of ways is very simple. they can keep the naysayers away but the fact they are talking about increasing prices if you become a new netflix customer in the coming months, that is something everybody was always wondering about with this business because of the billions and billions of dollars of content obligations. it is not free to produce shows like house of cards or cut egg lucrative deals with the likes of disney. availablet content for netflix customers, they have love the idea of keeping the seven dollars 90 nine cents. but they have shown they are willing to play with the pricing because of you play with the pricing, maybe you can generate more revenue.

saw this yesterday with bill ackman going out there and frankly, spearheading the acquisition of allergan>> we will get into that deal. i'm curious, why is it that they have chosen now to make this three-way swap? >> there is the cynical side of me that says, there is a banking reform act and investors are saying, you've got to do something because revenues are going down, and you can only grow earnings per share by cutting. let's focus on core competence. let's increase the sales we know are predictable, because shareholders like predictability. that is what they are focusing on. >> shannon, is that what is going on here? >> it is odd we have had a lot of deals right now. a lot of these deals seem to come in clusters. i don't know if that is the investment bankers talking amongst themselves, but a lot of times when you see one, you see more. >> the reason i am going down this road is because there was the talk about the pfizer astrazeneca deal. and that would have created a powerhouse. i mean, they are all powerhouses. >> that is the opposite about what we are talking about here, with co

allergan has a big event philosophy, to build a giant company for the long term.a split owing on in the pharma industry. some say that they will go that route to purchase from biotech, others say they are in it for the long-term. but the key is to have a plan and stick to it. you really have to have your board fully prepared. >> you think philosophy when you wake up and bill ackman is thin and your front door saying -- guess how much of you that i own? >> i don't think you will capitulate easily. i think you will find him shedding assets and doing everything he can to stay independent. >> is this a shot across the bow of every corporate ward? bills point, you need to be prepared? look at novartis, to some that appears to be the anticipation of activism. >> it is very simple. into every boardroom in america right now and you say to them -- what is your biggest fear? their biggest fear, for those who do not have activists? they do not want activists. they fear those obsessed with activism. the punchline, the ceo does not wake up, look in the mirror and say -- why do

i expect that the fantastic research and development budget that sets allergan apart will be gone iny get it. i don't think it's fair that he was able to buy 10% when he news a take over was coming. it is absolutely legal. but i didn't like that the former head of enforcement blessed the transaction himself. although thanks to the transaction of the resolving door he's a corporate lawyer now. couldn't he have lead someone else to do the dirty work? is this the same government man protecting retail experts a few months ago? sadly yes. kind of a let down. but all of that said, more than anything else what i want is for you to make money. sometimes in order to make an omelet you have to break some eggs. as it happens, activists are fabulous egg breakers. he's practically a top chef with his work here. all big wins. think about how much the activist made over the years. if you piggy back on his at wendy's, heinz and great quarter today because of his action. i don't think he has hurt pepsico either. even as it's pretty clear the ceo has been giving him tea anyway. the best always get mot

as i reported a number of times, allergan does have time here. only a week or so away. i think it's the 6th of may. they will have a shareholder proposal that management supports they put in the proxy to actually allow you to act by written consent to call a special meeting with 25%. amazing to me that allergan, which had been a approached by valeant a year and a half ago, actually making it easier for shareholders potentially to act. one interesting part of this. another, of course, is that allergan will have some time here regardless. it is huddling with its advisors, goldman sachs in there, i believe bank of america, merrill lynch. question is what they will do. i will tell you one thing they will start to do. try to sew questions about valeant's valuation, valeant's strategy, valeant stock price. that could be a key to this battle. raising questions. well are they really finding a new way to do things? is it really about the acumen of mike pearson and his great background that has enabled him to figure out which parts of r and d are productiv

going after allergan.tlined his intentions on bloomberg tv's "market makers." >> we are saying that the combined business is a much better business than either business separated. we have committed a large amount of capital to this entity. we have committed to a select stock in the venture. we have a contractual requirement to own it for a year. we intend to own it longer than that. we are a big believer in not just of this transaction and what the company becomes, but we are a big believer what happens when deal two and three and four happen from here. 102, 103, 104. >> bill ackman of pershing square capital with some insight into the evolving landscape of the pharmaceutical industry. somebody who has worked at novartis, merck, and bausch & lomb, dr. flemming omskov is the chief executive of the dublin-based shire pharmaceuticals. thank you very much for being here. let's start off talking about the mergers and acquisitions and asset swaps and sales we have seen so far this week. does this indicate to you

the deal to buy allergan and the attempting targets like bausch and lomb, and botox that accounted for half of company sales last year. the big valiant shareholder hopes the country will rank number one in skin care and number two in eye health. being number one or two in the drug segment is another motivation behind the mega deals. >> i believe what you're seeing is companies moving towards what they do well in those respective areas. >> that is what is going on in novartis' three-way deal today. the swap got out of vaccines and animal health and more focus on cancer drugs. >> that grows to be the number two player in terms of global revenues. >> more of these types of deals could be coming. merck is in talks to sell their consumer health products. then there is the talk about pzizer and as astrazeneca. >> we're seeing a narrowing and a focusing of businesses along strategic lines. >> and so far this year the number of pharma and health care deals is just about the same as it was a year ago. but according to s&p, the value of those deals had nearly doubled. >>> and joining us now to t

allergan is hot. to be short this name. >> goodyear is falling after missing on both the top and bottom lines, murph. >> yeah, falling hard, and another company that came out and blamed the weather for part of this loss that they posted, it's down 7% today. i like this name. i want to see the stock in the low 20s before i get back in. >> you're okay now? >> it's either a senior moment or the hits playing hockey. >> great arguments yesterday. simon did. >> bear. >> bear. >> so you got it right? >> i got it right. >> good job. at least one of us knows. >>> with interest rates at historic lows, is real estate becoming a more or less attractive place to invest money? few people have as much skin in the real estate, than the ceo of thor equities. joe, welcome. good to have you on the show. >> thank you. >> what's the state of commercial real estate right now as everybody's sort of figuring what the fed's going to do, where interest rates are going, and where the housing market itself is going? >> what we'r

initially, obviously, the big one is ackman and allergan.is when you have an unbeatable hand, bet big. that's something that i think goes for poker and other places. obviously, this is not a situation you can replicate very frequently. you have to have the right partner, target, get things done, you need lawyers. you have to figure this out the right way. to me, that was the lesson of the allergan deal. >> so you there. i like that. i like the poker analogy. >> the double aces. >> right. and what's number two? >> this is pick your targets right. to me, icahn going after apple and ebay -- they were not necessarily optimal activist targets. in fact, i don't see apple as being an activist target for carl icahn. it was just kind of a, let's shame management into doing what we want them to do. ebay, as well. what you needed to do is persuade wall street there was some obvious large or strategic move they could make that would unlock value quickly and make a lot of sense, and then what's plan b? you have no stick, right? a $500 billion company. >>

third quarter, that's almost double to the earlier projection of $40 billion.and, reuters reports allergan is targeting biotech company shire in a potential takeover attempt. trader todd horwitz of average joe options.com joins us to prepare the way for this trading day. good morning to you. >>good morning angie. >>we have the fed ahead this week. what are you anticipating? any change in rates? any change in policy? >>i don't think there will be much change at all. i think that they'll continue the course knowing that they will backstop the market at any chance they can. as we saw the action on monday, we saw the market way down and i think that somebody probably got a whiff that the fed would do something different. i think they stay the course and continue but the bottom line is that janet yellen has made it clear that she will back the market up anytime she needs to. >>are traders worried about the jobs number coming out on friday? >>i think traders may be thinking about the jobs number and what the reaction might be but really the now always comes back to the fed because the jobs we ha