Allergan's CEO Explains Why Fighting Bill Ackman Was 'All Consuming'

Allergan, Inc. AGN has been on a roll in the past year. Not only did the company crushed Bill Ackman’s attempt of taking it over, it also posted record numbers for the fiscal year and the shares are up over 80 percent year over year.

David Pyott, Allergan chairman and CEO, was on CNBC Monday, February 9 to talk about the takeover attempt and the surge in company’s stock.

How Difficult Was Running The Company While Fighting Bill Ackman At The Same Time?

“It was all consuming,” Pyott said.

“A long time ago, we said if ever we got into, kind of, a very tough situation, we would subdivide the management team, and that’s exactly what I did,” Pyott replied.

“Fortunately, I'd appointed – and the board, obviously – Doug Ingram as the president of the company, summer of 2013. And by about day 2, I said, ‘Ok, Doug, you and our head of R&D Scott Whitcup, you run the day-to-day, month-to-month operations. I will concentrate on raiders, investors, public relations, all the above.’ That worked great.”

'Sword Of Damocles'

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“So, real strong performance. Now, some of that of course is good because you have the 'Sword of Damocles' heading it your way. You got to really tone things up, but I think we [have] to be really careful in corporate America that things do not become too short-term.”

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