Financial Times
Elliott's acolytes: how Paul Singer's hedge fund became a spinout factory
Coverage drawing on DEF 14 research into activist lineages and the growth of spinout firms.
Shareholder activism data, inside your AI assistant.
Ask questions in your preferred AI assistant and get structured answers grounded in DEF 14’s specialist-built shareholder activism data, expert insight and source materials. MCP access and full access to the DEF 14 platform are included under the same subscription.
AI assistant access via MCP + full DEF 14 platform access · One subscription.
DEF 14 in your AI assistant
Show the campaign lifecycle, escalation points and outcome for a selected activist situation. Cite the underlying record.
Campaign research
A campaign is returned as a connected timeline—not a single static record.
Stage 01
Position and early activity
Stake-building, engagement and public signals.Stage 02
Formalization and escalation
Disclosures, demands, proxy actions and presentations.Stage 03
Resolution and aftermath
Settlement, vote, board change, continuation or exit.✓ Dates, entities and claims remain traceable to supporting records.
Featured
Financial Times
Paul Singer's activist hedge fund factory
A Financial Times feature examining the expanding ecosystem around major activist platforms.
Financial Times
Elliott's ‘lone wolf’: the hedge fund maverick waging war on Big Oil
Financial Times coverage of a prominent activist campaign and the strategy behind it.
30+ yearsof cleaned and interconnected activism data
5,000+activist campaigns tracked
100,000+campaign filings traced and processed
400+activist hedge funds tracked across vehicles
Why DEF 14
Your AI is only as useful as the data behind it.
DEF 14 gives AI assistants access to a mapped, time-ordered record of shareholder activism—so answers reflect how campaigns actually develop, change and resolve.
Better data is the product.
DEF 14 was built from the ground up by subject-matter experts to capture the differences between activists, strategies and situations—not flatten them into broad averages.
01
Objective dataValidated records and corrected filing inconsistencies.
02
Connected contextActors, instruments, actions and outcomes linked together.
03
AuditabilityTime-based tracking and source lineage throughout.
From row to record
See the whole campaign story.
Use the same DEF 14 data and insight inside your AI assistant through MCP, then move into the platform whenever you need deeper visual research, comparison or source review.
Early signalsPress activity, stake-building and initial engagement.
Ownership and disclosureBeneficial ownership records, entities and investment vehicles.
EscalationDemands, proxy activity, presentations and stakeholder moves.
Outcome and precedentSettlements, votes, board changes, returns and continued activity.
AI-first research
Ask in your AI assistant. Get answers grounded in DEF 14.
Through MCP, compatible AI assistants can query DEF 14’s campaign records, activist histories, ownership data, outcomes and source materials. The same subscription also includes direct access to the full DEF 14 platform.
Choose a research workflow
The preview updates without leaving the page.
Research preview
Map the complete lifecycle of an activist campaign.
Return a time-ordered record connecting early activity, beneficial ownership disclosures, demands, proxy escalation, settlement activity, stakeholders and outcomes.
TimelineEvents and escalation
EntitiesActors and vehicles
EvidenceFilings and materials
Designed to preserve source dates, entity relationships and campaign context.
What you can research
Specialist data and insight, available inside your AI workflow.
Start in your AI assistant for fast, natural-language research. Use the DEF 14 platform for deeper exploration, visual analysis and direct source review.
Campaign search
Find situations by activist, target, period, strategy, demand, event or outcome.
Lifecycle timelines
Follow campaigns through disclosures, public actions, escalation, resolution and later developments.
Actor and ownership data
Review activists, related vehicles, issuer ownership and historical behavior across the dataset.
Performance and source retrieval
Connect campaign events with returns and retrieve filings, agreements, presentations and other primary materials.
Published research
Analysis recognized by leading financial and governance publications.
DEF 14 turns structured activism data into empirical research on how campaigns develop, settle and produce outcomes.
Boardroom Catalysts: Patterns in Activist Director Selection
The study examined 1,048 board appointments involving 835 individuals in U.S. activist campaigns since 2015.
Senior operators and finance-oriented professionals dominated activist-related appointments, with finance-oriented professionals accounting for 56% of appointments.
Read the publication →Uneasy Handshakes: Observations on Informal Settlements in Shareholder Activism
The study reviewed 646 campaigns initiated in 2023 together with earlier campaigns that remained active long enough to settle in 2023 or later.
The research found that 17% of board-representation settlements in the sample were informal.
Read the publication →The Spinout Effect: How Activist Lineages Are Driving Growth and Outcomes
The report examined firms launched by alumni of Elliott, Starboard, Icahn, Trian, ValueAct, Pershing Square, JANA and Third Point.
The analysis found that activist spinouts have become a meaningful source of campaign activity.
Read the publication →Independent publication does not constitute endorsement by the Financial Times, Harvard University or Harvard Law School.
Built for high-stakes work
One trusted dataset. Different professional decisions.
INVESTORS
Research behavior and precedent
Compare activist strategies, historical campaigns, exposure, outcomes and performance patterns.
CORPORATE DEFENSE & ADVISERS
Understand situations as they develop
Identify stakeholders, escalation paths, comparable cases and tactical precedent.
LEGAL & GOVERNANCE
Trace the underlying record
Build chronologies across disclosures, proxy materials, agreements and campaign events.
AI first, platform included
Use DEF 14 in your AI assistant
—and get the full platform too.
MCP is the fastest way to bring DEF 14 into the tools your team already uses. Every subscription also includes direct access to the DEF 14 platform for deeper research.
01
Use it in your AI assistant
Ask natural-language questions in a compatible AI environment and receive structured answers grounded in DEF 14 data and sources.
Open the MCP demo →02
Request platform trial access
Explore DEF 14 directly through its visual research platform, including campaign histories, ownership context and source materials.
Request a platform trial →Included with both: source-level auditability, approved-user access, configurable entitlements and read-only MCP tools.
Frequently asked questions
What teams need to know before getting started.
What does the subscription include?+
Each subscription includes access to DEF 14 through MCP in compatible AI assistants and direct access to the full DEF 14 platform.
How much does it cost?+
The annual subscription is $10,680 per seat. Multi-seat plans can receive discounts of up to 40%, depending on the number of seats.
What can the MCP research?+
The MCP can support research across activist campaigns, timelines, actors, ownership, outcomes, performance and primary-source materials, subject to the user’s data entitlements.
Can the MCP take actions?+
No. The MCP tools are read-only and are designed for research and source retrieval rather than trading, filing or making changes to external systems.
Which AI assistants are supported?+
Compatibility depends on the approved MCP client and deployment. Supported clients, authentication and institutional controls are confirmed during onboarding.
Pricing
One subscription. Two ways to work.
Get DEF 14 directly in your AI assistant through MCP, plus full access to the platform for deeper research, comparison and source review.
Annual subscription
$10,680per seat / year
Equivalent to $890 per month, billed annually.
MCP access included
Use DEF 14 data and source-linked research inside compatible AI assistants.
Platform access included
Explore campaign histories, ownership, outcomes and primary-source materials directly.
Save up to 40% with multi-seat plans.Volume pricing scales with the number of users on your team.
Bring DEF 14 into your AI workflow.
Try the MCP experience or request trial access. One subscription includes both AI assistant access and the full DEF 14 platform.