It’s Hollywood versus the Hedgie.
Actor George Clooney unleashed a broadside against New York hedge fund titan Dan Loeb, accusing him of being a Tinseltown-damaging carpetbagger.
The 52-year-old movie star ripped into Loeb after the Third Point hedge fund owner attacked Sony Pictures for its two summer box-office bombs: “White House Down” and “After Earth.”
Loeb attacked Sony Pictures on Thursday on its spending habits, which he thinks are overboard, as part of his effort to persuade Sony brass in Tokyo to spin off up to 20 percent of the entertainment unit in an IPO to unleash its full financial potential.
Sony is weighing the Loeb proposal.
“A guy from a hedge fund entity is the single least qualified person to be making these kinds of judgments,” Clooney said in an interview with Deadline hollywood, “and he is dangerous to our industry.”
Ironically, Third Point is an investor in Deadline Hollywood.
“Hedge-fund guys do not create jobs, and we [in the movie industry] do,” said Clooney, whose production studio, Smokehouse Pictures, resides at Sony.
Clooney spoke at length about the hedgie’s attempts to embarrass Sony and compared Loeb to Walmart coming into town.
The hunky actor also questioned why Loeb was trying to “take scalps” by focusing his criticism of Sony Pictures bosses Amy Pascal and Michael Lynton on just two movies. Pascal has also been the creative force behind the biggest Bond movie ever, “Skyfall,” noted Clooney.
A spokesman for Third Point declined comment.