William Ackman Needs Sharper Ideas in ADP Quest<br />Pershing Square contends the stock could double within four years through changed management incentives, better<br />integration of operations, streamlining of the business and greater emphasis on software development.<br />The harshest comment, however, was the nearly 5 percent drop in his target’s share price during Mr. Ackman’s presentation, which may explain why he said toward the end of the three-hour call<br />that the company probably needed a new chief executive.<br />Since building his stake, Mr. Ackman has been called “dead wrong” by Leon Cooperman, a fellow hedge fund titan<br />and former ADP board member, and a “spoiled brat” by Carlos Rodriguez, ADP’s chief executive.<br />Mr. Ackman says he “knows that people respond to incentives,” so he thinks that taking off caps on executive compensation will unleash performance.<br />Growing rivals like Workday and Ultimate Software offer cloud-based services<br />that tend to be cheaper, faster to set up and more convenient than incumbent firms.
