Well, keep in mind that the activist investors did not buy at the peak of the price nor duirng the IPO. They bought when prices were low because they saw they can sell the companies off in parts and make a quick dollar. That isn't good for the company, the long-term investors, the employees, not the communities where these companies do business, but it is great for the uber rich on Wall Street who fund these wealth management companies. Do you ever wonder who is invested in places like TPG-Axon Capital? I assure you it isn't Ma and Pa Kettle.

TPG-Axon Capital Management, L.P.: Private Company Information - Businessweek

TPG-Axon Capital Management, LP (TAC) is a privately owned hedge fund sponsor. The firm provides its services to high net worth individuals, pension funds, and banking institutions.
They produce nothing. The only destory long-term wealth generation for short term gains for a select few wealthy enough to buy into it. They are a cancer on the system. If this practice is the new system (and I think it is) then the whole thing is doomed to failure. Our country was founded on local economies but increasingly control of the economy is being placed in a concentrated pocket of people in NYC.