On the one hand, activist hedge funds are taking positions in companies and trying to get them to sell out. Then, there are hedge funds that protest when a buyout offer is too low.

It's certainly getting confusing -- but it's all very interesting.

Take the $2.25 billion buyout of Acxiom Corp. (NASDAQ: ACXM).

As I wrote in a post on BloggingStocks last week, the company was the target of activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital Partners. Now, the hedge fund has joined private equity firm Silver Lake Partners for the going-private transaction.

Well, Acxiom's second largest shareholder -- Millbrook Capital Management, which is a hedge fund -- is not too thrilled with the buyout offer and plans to challenge it. according to a filing with the SEC.

It's a serious problem. After all, Millbrook has an 8% stake. Also, it's probably a good bet that there are other agitated hedgies in Acxiom's stock.

In fact, Millbrook thinks the stock is worth more that $35 per share.

Yes, that's much better than the $27.10 offer, and Wall Street is thinking a higher bid will come to the table, as the shares closed today at $28.04.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

While it's hard to imagine Peter Lynch tossing Dan Loeb-ian epithets at incompetent executives, there is evidence that mutual fund managers are waking up from their long slumber and joining hedge funds in the fight for stronger corporate governance. Increasingly, prominent funds are pushing for governance changes, mergers and sales, and changes in management.

According to the Wall Street Journal (registration required), the change is motivated by practical factors: increased media and regulatory scrutiny of corporate governance is casting an eye at mutual funds (who for years have not been proactive shareholders), and they are facing competition from hedge funds for investor dollars.

I'm thrilled to see mutual funds stepping up to the plate, and taking on their responsibilities to shareholders. For too long it seems, management teams have been insulated from the shareholders by the mutual funds that wouldn't do anything. As Carl Icahn has said, "With some exceptions, the wrong people are running U.S. companies. It's been that way for years, and it hasn't gotten much better." With increased spotlight on management at publicly traded companies, and the specter of activist hedge funds and less-lethargic mutual funds haunting the boardrooms of corporate America, maybe that will change.