Nelson Peltz Quotes
101 Nelson Peltz Quotes
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We have a saying, ‘If you find a dollar on the balance sheet, it’s worth a dollar, and we’re not going to walk past a dollar. But if you find a dollar on the income statement, it’s worth ten, fifteen, twenty dollars depending upon what the multiple that stock trades at, and it comes back every year, and it comes without interest.’ And that’s what we live and breathe is on the income statement.
Nelson Peltz
So in certain cases we’re telling companies, reduce your discount allowances to suit the markets, take that money, don’t give it to shareholders, put it on television, put it on the internet, support your brands, give yourself pricing power. Make yourself more relevant. Cause these branded businesses… what’s on the balance sheet is not what’s important, it’s the value of the brand. And you must support those brands. And if you do, it will pay dividends.
Nelson Peltz
[On the management of a company or division he takes over that’s underperforming] Sometimes they’re happy to see us, sometimes they’re not so happy to see us. But our goal is to work with management, not to replace them. To work with them, share our vision for the business. Give them our roadmap on how we think the business can be improved, or for the benefit of all the shareholders. And if they go along terrific, if not then we have to go to the next step.
Nelson Peltz
[On the stock markets in September 2007 and how he sees them over the next few years] I think reality has come back… Discipline has come back. The markets got too crazy. It was a market that didn’t depend on valuing credit. It was a market that depended on bankers telling their bank that they worked for that they could take this credit and sell it onto somebody else. That’s not what should be done.
Nelson Peltz
[In September 2007] So you have credits today at nine times leverage. You have light convents, you have toggle financings, these things are not good. The subprime issue was just the tipping point, now you’ve got credit scarcity all over the place. And just two months ago we were saying, there’s so much equity in the world, there’s so much liquidity. Well that liquidity is gone… And it disappeared in no time. And it disappeared because we’re in an environment of low rate, low return, where everybody wanted high return. And the only way they could accomplish that is with excessive leverage. Now people have gone back to safety… and low return.
Nelson Peltz
[In September 2007] It’s interesting how the world changed on a dime. I think it’s going to remain this way for a while. People are going to get more logical in terms of how they finance things, and the banks are going to be very tight… And it’s not a matter of cost of money but it’s a matter of availability.
Nelson Peltz
[When his net worth was estimated at around $890 million] I’m like old money these days. See these young guys worth three billion to four billion and you think to yourself, what have I done wrong?
Nelson Peltz
[In June 11, 1987 on junk bonds] Limited high yield bond financing. We can’t have legislation that limits access to capital for certain companies that lack investment-grade ratings, that limits the use of debt in acquisitions, that restricts investment in high-yield securities or that imposes arbitrary limits on corporate debt levels.
Nelson Peltz
[On junk bonds in June 1987 they help finance companies] Rebuild our manufacturing base. They are a vital source of financing for those firms that are creating and saving jobs and helping push America back to prominence in all the world markets.
Nelson Peltz
Operational activism.
Nelson Peltz
[In December 18, 2007 –Cadbury Schweppes Management] Had nowhere to hide
Nelson Peltz
[To Walter Yetnikoff of CBS Records - Larry] Tisch said to call you. Tisch is interested in selling.
Nelson Peltz
[To William Johnson of H. J Heinz on Peltz saying he needed to spend more money on marketing ketchup and Johnson responding that they already had 70 percent of the ketchup market] Only 30 percent of people use ketchup on their french fries. So you only have 70 percent of 30 percent. You’ve got to get 70 percent of 90 percent.
Nelson Peltz
[In March 2006 to Heinz CEO Bill Johnson] I’m going on your board.
Nelson Peltz
[On talking in March 2006 with Heinz CEO Bill Johnson] We talked that evening about how to build long-term value. You must make some decisions Wall Street dislikes. I’ll help give Bill the cover to make those decisions.
Nelson Peltz
[In March 2007] The good thing about private equity, it that it’s up close and personal. The CEO talks to the owner every day, not once a quarter.
Nelson Peltz
We say, ‘Keep the company public and force managers to break a sweat, but without the excessive leverage imposed by private equity.’ Raising $1 by issuing new debt is worth $1. But if I can raise earnings by $1, that translates into $10 to $15 in value. Guess which is better?
Nelson Peltz
Give me a few facts about a fast-food company, and I’ll tell you what EBITDA should be. Like Carnac! I try to figure out the marketing puzzle.
Nelson Peltz
[On talking with Krispy Kreme in 2004 and thinking about buying a big chunk] But I couldn’t make heads or tails out of their financial statements or what they were telling investors. We ate a lot of doughnuts, and saw that the stores were half empty. We figured out the company was making most of its money selling the franchisees equipment, not on doughnuts. The company wasn’t giving the facts to shareholders. [He didn’t invest in Krispy Kreme]
Nelson Peltz
[On raising at family of ten kids who are figure skaters and high school hockey stars] My kids are exhausted every day, and I keep them that way. It’s gym, ice, homework. They’re too tired to get in trouble.
Nelson Peltz
I believe in pay for performance. People would be happy to pay a CEO a large amount of comp for doing what I’ve done with Triarc or Triangle.
Nelson Peltz
[On buying a stake in Tiffany] Women see Tiffany as a place to buy a gift, or where gifts come from in those beautiful blue boxes. But it’s not where women go to shop for themselves. And it should be.
Nelson Peltz
I took a job in the family food business - we sold fresh produce and frozen food in New York - driving a truck for two weeks for a hundred bucks a week to get gas money for Oregon. My father said I could have the job if I shaved my beard, so I did. It was a very small business, and I saw all the opportunities and all the mistakes everybody was making. My father said, ‘If you don’t like it, why don’t you change it?’
Nelson Peltz
[On starting an investment fund whilst helping to turn a $2.5 million private company in 1963 to a $150 million publicly held company in 1978] A little investment fund on the side
Nelson Peltz
[On his secret to success] Common sense. We didn’t invent anything - whether we built American National Can at the time into the world’s largest packaging company or resurrected Snapple or some of the other deals we did that were not as well known but were just as successful - all of them had the same ingredient: fundamental common sense. Understanding your customer and understanding what that particular business needs, that’s essential. Some need a wider-angle vision, and some need a narrower focus. There’s no formula. But they all need a strong ingredient of common sense and getting away from all that clutter; understanding a road map for that business.
Nelson Peltz
[On his high yield bond deals in the 1980s] It was a brilliant instrument and an instrument that was very necessary. Big companies in those days, like AT&T and GM, could issue long-term debt; smaller guys like me could only borrow from a bank to take over a big company. You needed to get capital on a different basis, and when that capital arrived, it was an eye-opener for me - it was a great facilitator. But once you acquire the business, then you have to make something of it in relatively quick fashion because you have this interest ticking at a pretty high rate.
Nelson Peltz
[On investing in companies] What would we do differently? If we have a vision for that business, we will make an investment. We then work with management or bring in new management and that management has to share that vision. I just liked building businesses; I didn’t have a passion for one particular business.
Nelson Peltz
I used to read every annual report I could get my hands on, and I used to go through the monthly S&P stock digest cover to cover looking for investment opportunities. I traded stocks and futures and just had a good time doing it. I did this in my free time, at night, and on weekends. I started to learn what business is really about, which is free cash flow.
Nelson Peltz
You have to say, here’s a business. Do I like that business? Do I think that business has a future? Do its products have a future and can they make it in the marketplace, given a Wal-Mart on one side and China on the other? You have to ask questions that you intuitively know the answer to. You can do all your research, but you have to listen to your stomach. It’s much more important to feel that you’re intuitively on the right track. Then, you do all your work and find out if your investment thesis is appropriate.
Nelson Peltz
I believe that business rescues are about investment and values that have not been recognized and how to extract that value.
Nelson Peltz
Each one of my kids is very special, and each one I have a very special relationship with. It sounds hard with 10 kids, and sometimes it is hard. I try to give them my best advice, and they cut me a certain amount of slack.
Nelson Peltz
[On philanthropy including working with the Wiesenthal Center] I like the fact the Wiesenthal Center is a hard-hitting social action organization that wants to do something about intolerance, bigotry, and hatred. More people should get behind this.
Nelson Peltz
We have to be on watch for intolerance. And I don’t just mean antisemitism, I mean intolerance against African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and others. The minute you see it, you can’t just turn the other cheek. Nobody is born with these feelings in their DNA. This is strictly from their upbringing. Parents have to be aware of what they are teaching their kids.
Nelson Peltz
I think that those people were very careful before they opened their mouths again. I could easily have turned the other cheek. Things start from little incidents, and if you deal with the little incidents immediately, you nip them in the bud. I’ve seen it close up, and my kids have seen it close up over the years. Not a lot, but enough. It shouldn’t be there. Once you realize that we all have a certain amount of prejudice, then you can start to deal with it.
Nelson Peltz
[On being a role model] There are a lot of other people - Bill Gates comes to mind -who are a lot more interesting than me. I expected to achieve things, and I don’t know that I’ve achieved anything that spectacular. I don’t know if just making money is a great achievement.
Nelson Peltz
[On achievement] I’d like to shoot par. And that’s really hard to do for a guy who gets to play probably once or twice a month.
Nelson Peltz
I’m pleased with the way my life has turned out.
Nelson Peltz
[On Triarc and Wendy’s merger in September 2008] Our Board is very pleased to welcome Janet Hill and Randy Lewis and we look forward to working with them as we build our new restaurant company. We would also like to thank Russ Umphenour for his valuable contributions to the Triarc Board over the years. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors
Nelson Peltz
[On H. J. Heinz restructuring in August 2006] We will be around to cheer them on, see them execute their plans, and if they don’t they will hear from us next year.
Nelson Peltz
Our timing isn’t always perfect. Sometimes it takes longer to create value, but if the companies generate more earnings, the stocks will ultimately reflect that.
Nelson Peltz
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