Bill Ackman
Bill Ackman is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Portfolio Manager of Pershing Square Capital Management. He has made a name for himself as one of the most vociferous activists in investing. While he often draws comparisons to Carl Icahn, Ackman believes he mirrors Warren Buffett more closely. In a 2013 interview, he outlined his strategy for investing as relying on concentrated research to identify great businesses that es that are trading at highly discounted valuations. Ackman also uses using his stake in a company to intervene in the decision-making, strategy, management, or structure of the businesses that .
Bill Ackman Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
-
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Academic History
-
Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude
-
Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- Ackman is notable for being an activist investor who is not afraid to force a management change if he is unhappy.
- The son of a successful real estate broker, he enjoyed a rather affluent upbringing in Chappaqua, New York.
- While in high school, he bet his father $2,000 he could get a perfect score on the SAT. While he lost the wager, he still managed to get into Harvard.
- He rose to fame for his short of bond insurer MBIA and his rescue of mall operator General Growth.
- He at times topped Wall Street with activist wins on Canadian Pacific, Fortune Brands, and Allergan.
- He hit hard times after trying to merge Allergan and Valeant in 2014. He made over $1 billion on the former but lost $3 billion on the latter.
Quotes
“Everyone told me it was a really stupid idea to start my own hedge fund right out of business school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. school. That’s how I knew it was a good idea.”
“In order to be successful, you have to make sure that being rejected doesn’t bother you at all.”
“I am always prepared to do the right thing regardless of what other people think.”