Bill Ackman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bill Ackman
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Ackman in 2016
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William Albert Ackman
May 11, 1966 Chappaqua, New York, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard University (BA, MBA) |
| Occupation | Hedge fund manager |
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| Children | 4 |
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William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire who manages large investment funds. He is the founder and leader of Pershing Square Capital Management, a company that manages a type of investment fund called a hedge fund.
A hedge fund collects money from many investors and uses it to make different kinds of investments, hoping to earn high returns. Bill Ackman is known as an "activist investor." This means he buys a lot of shares in a company and then tries to make big changes to how that company is run, believing it will make the company more valuable.
As of June 2024, his wealth was estimated to be around $9.3 billion. Bill Ackman is also very active in giving money to good causes. He has signed The Giving Pledge, promising to donate at least half of his wealth to charity during his lifetime.
He has supported different political groups over time. Recently, he has publicly supported Israel's actions in the Israel–Hamas war. He also asked for the names of Harvard students who signed a letter criticizing statements from Israeli officials.
Contents
Early life and education
Bill Ackman grew up in Chappaqua, New York. His father, Lawrence David Ackman, was a leader in a real estate financing company. Bill Ackman comes from a Jewish family.
In 1988, he graduated with high honors from Harvard College with a degree in social studies. Later, in 1992, he earned a business degree from Harvard Business School.
Career
Gotham Partners
In 1992, after finishing his studies, Ackman started an investment company called Gotham Partners with a friend from Harvard. This company made smaller investments in public companies.
In 1995, Ackman's company tried to buy Rockefeller Center, a famous group of buildings in New York City. Even though they didn't win the bid, it helped Gotham Partners get noticed by other investors. By 1998, the company was managing $500 million.
In 2002, Ackman looked closely at a company called MBIA. He believed that its financial health was not as strong as it seemed. He even bought investments that would profit if MBIA's value went down. This turned out to be a good move for him during the financial crisis of 2007–2008.
Ackman also had a disagreement with another famous investor, Carl Icahn, over a business deal. They had an agreement about sharing profits if certain conditions were met. When Icahn refused to pay, Ackman sued him. Eight years later, a court ordered Icahn to pay Ackman the money he owed, plus interest.
Pershing Square Capital Management
In 2004, Bill Ackman started his own new investment firm, Pershing Square Capital Management. He began with $54 million of his own money and funds from a former business partner.
In 2010, Pershing Square started buying many shares of J. C. Penney, a large department store. Ackman wanted to help change the company. However, in 2013, he left the company's board of directors because he disagreed with other board members.
By 2015, Pershing Square had made $4.5 billion in profits for its investors in just one year. This made Ackman one of the top hedge fund managers in the world.
In early 2024, Ackman tried to make Pershing Square a public company, which means its shares could be bought and sold by anyone. He hoped to raise $25 billion, but he only raised $2 billion. So, he decided to stop the plan for now and announced he would try a different approach later.
Herbalife short
In 2012, Bill Ackman made a big bet against a company called Herbalife. He believed Herbalife's business model, which involves selling products through a network of distributors, was like a pyramid scheme. In a pyramid scheme, people make money mainly by recruiting new members, not just by selling products.
Ackman's company, Pershing Square, made a "short sell" on Herbalife's shares. This means they borrowed shares and sold them, hoping the price would drop so they could buy them back cheaper and make a profit. This caused Herbalife's stock price to fall.
Another billionaire investor, Carl Icahn, disagreed with Ackman. They even had a public argument on TV! Icahn then started buying shares of Herbalife, which helped its stock price go back up.
Ackman spent a lot of money trying to convince the public and government regulators that Herbalife was a pyramid scheme. He even funded campaigns against the company. However, in 2016, Herbalife reached an agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which ended the investigation into the company.
On the day of this agreement, it was estimated that Bill Ackman had lost $500 million on his bet against Herbalife. He finally stopped his bet against Herbalife in 2018 after the company's stock price continued to rise.
Investment style
Bill Ackman has said that his most successful investments have often been ones where many people disagreed with him at first. He believes in making a bold move that others don't expect.
Some of his well-known investments include betting against MBIA during the financial crisis and his involvement with companies like Canadian Pacific Railway, Target Corporation, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. His long bet against Herbalife was also very famous.
After a few years of not doing so well (2015-2018), Ackman told his investors in 2018 that he would go "back to basics." This meant focusing more on research and less on other activities. The next year, his fund had a very successful year, earning a 58.1% return.
Philanthropy
Bill Ackman is a very generous person. He has signed The Giving Pledge, promising to give away at least half of his wealth to charity.
In 2006, he and his former wife, Karen, started the Pershing Square Foundation. This foundation gives money to organizations that work on important issues like economic development, education, healthcare, and human rights. Since it started, the foundation has given over $750 million to more than 100 different groups.
Some of the organizations that have received grants include the One Acre Fund (which helps farmers), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (a research center), and the Innocence Project (which helps wrongly convicted people). In 2021, Bill Ackman and his current wife, Neri Oxman, were recognized as some of the most generous donors.
In 2021, he donated a large number of shares in a South Korean e-commerce company called Coupang, worth about $1.36 billion, to his own foundation and other groups. He also auctioned off a lunch with himself for charity, raising money to help healthcare workers.
Personal life
Bill Ackman married Karen Ann Herskovitz in 1994, and they had three children. They separated in 2016.
In 2018, Ackman got engaged to Neri Oxman, an Israeli-American designer. They married in January 2019 and had their first child together later that year.
Ackman enjoys playing tennis. He owns a private jet and a large apartment in Manhattan, among other homes.
Images for kids
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Ackman, Valeant CEO Michael Pearson, and Valeant CFO Howard Schiller testifying in front of Congress on April 27, 2016
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Bill Ackman's signature
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See also
In Spanish: Bill Ackman para niños
