Pyott on Points; Goodwill Gala; Reiff Steppes Up

The quick takeaway from last week’s Allergan action: Round 1 goes to David Pyott on points—and an acquisition would knock Valeant out cold … Would-be Allergan raider Bill Ackman had a rough time on two fronts last week—his bid to force the Irvine-based drug maker into Valeant’s fold lost ground, and an attempt to blacken the eye of Herbalife backfired. Ackman took a $1 billion short position on L.A.-based Herbalife going on two years ago, and its shares last week were up at least 40% since then … Don’t feel too bad for Ackman, who dug into Allergan after accumulating a 9.7% stake earlier this year and has gone on to see the premise of his shareholder activism gain traction even if the takeover bid has faltered. Proof: Pyott came Ackman’s way last week when he announced cost cuts that will include about 1,500 layoffs at Allergan. That’s expected to boost earnings for several years, an outlook that won over Wall Street analysts and might have put the company out of Valeant’s reach altogether (see story, page 1, chart page 90) … And keep in mind that Ackman has probably done better than anyone on Allergan since he started buying shares in late February. He revealed his stake—about 28.8 million shares—on April 22. That timeline indicates he paid an average of about $125 a share and had ridden them up to around $170 as of last week—a gain of about $1.3 billion … Look for the Beach Boys with a twist this fall at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott, where Goodwill of OC plans its first-ever gala fundraiser to support job placement efforts for families affected by disabilities and military vets transitioning to civilian life. The surfer-dude rockers will feature a new face on drums: TV personality John Stamos, one of whose sisters is married to Goodwill OC CEO Frank Talarico … … Laguna Cliffs II: Wonder if anyone has asked Rachel Tejada, newly named GM of the Laguna Cliffs Inn, if she’s familiar with the similarly named Jo Raquel Tejada—AKA Raquel Welch … Our executive editor, Rick Reiff, and better half, Mary Ann Brown, are back from roughing it in the land of the Great Khan, and they brought back a story to burnish OC’s cosmopolitan credentials: “Even at a camp on the remote steppes of Mongolia, we ran into someone else from Orange County on their own tour of the country—Bruce and Karen Clark,” Reiff reports. “He’s a geologist and retired CEO of Irvine-based engineering firm Leighton & Associates, and she’s a retired partner in the OC office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher” … Just in time for the Weekend Wealthy listing in our annual OC’s Wealthiest issue, slated next week: The Insider hears Shelly Sterling of Clippers infamy has a pied-a-terre on Linda Isle.