Obviously their entire reason for existence is to make money and no one believes anything different. I think that they also provide a valuable service to the markets and that Paul Singer (at least at this stage in his life) sees himself as an activist beyond the investment world.

I don't agree with all of their methods but think that they're a necessary boogieman in order to prevent shareholders from getting ripped off. Definitely the most aggressive in their space and they attract a lot of attention for it but no one ever seems to ask about why these companies were run in such a poor fashion to begin with.