corporate raider

American  

noun

1. a person who seizes control of a company, as by secretly buying stock and gathering proxies.

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corporate raider British  

noun

1. finance a person or organization that acquires a substantial holding of the shares of a company in order to take it over or to force its management to act in a desired way

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Etymology

Origin of corporate raider

First recorded in 1985–90

Example Sentences

Chadwick had learned the activism ropes at Relational Investors, where he worked with longtime rabble-rousers Ralph Whitworth and David Batchelder, who themselves had worked with the corporate raider T. Boone Pickens.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026

“The Grave Dancer” became a successful corporate raider, taking over radio stations, trailer parks, barges, wire and cable factories and garbage-fueled power plants.

From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2023

Some of the factors that led to the bankruptcy were particular to Revlon, like debt-fueled deal-making led by the corporate raider Ron Perelman, and a brand that failed to compete against younger, hipper rivals.

From New York Times • Jun. 17, 2022

Nevertheless, Rennert, who made his fortune as a corporate raider in the '80s and '90s, got a $2,400 check from the government.

From Salon • Nov. 4, 2021

The white-shoe law firms would call in Flom as well whenever some corporate raider made a run at one of their establishment clients.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell