• William Albert Ackman was born in 1966 in the USA
• The star investor started his career in his father’s company
• Today, Bill Ackman is one of the richest people and best-known investors in the world
William (Bill) Albert Ackman was born on May 11, 1966. The American lives in New York City and is now one of the best-known investors in the world. He made his name by founding Pershing Square Capital Management LP, the company that made him a multi-billionaire.
Ackman founds Pershing Square Capital Management
Bill Ackman grew up as the son of a real estate investor north of New York. After graduating from high school, he earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Harvard University, magna cum laude. He then attended Harvard Business School, where he qualified to work in his father’s real estate agency. He worked there until he founded his first hedge fund in 1992. Ten years later, however, he closed the fund again after a bad investment and invested his time in a new project: Two years later he founded Pershing Square Capital Management LP with $54 million in seed capital, and he multiplied this seed capital by 2014 with Pershing Square, he also saw an annual increase in value of up to 40 percent – according to the BBVA, he donated part of his profits to aid organizations for children and education.
Activist investor with a long-term commitment
Ackman’s investments continue to be the subject of much debate and controversy. Because while the star investor was able to make a lot of money from small investments, he also repeatedly made big losses. In 2014, for example, he wanted to merge Allergan and Valeant, making a billion-dollar profit with Allergan, but with a loss of three billion dollars for Valeant. Significantly more successful was its $27 million investment in the pandemic-weakened markets in early 2020, which later grew to $2.6 billion in value.
Ackman describes himself as an activist investor: he invests strategically in large companies with a lot of potential but financial problems for the long term. His investments are so large that they increase the stock market value of the company, which brings him large profits in the long run. At the same time, he actively positions himself against other companies. The best-known case is the company Herbalife, in which Carl Icahn had also invested – according to BBVA, Ackman put almost 50 million US dollars in a campaign against the company, which he accused of making false product promises, among other things. His strategy was unsuccessful at first, but when Herbalife was actually investigated in 2014, the campaign paid off, at least in part, and Ackman was able to recover most of his expenses financially.
Bill Ackman: One of the 900 richest people in the world
All in all, the major investor’s investments seem risky, but with potentially very big successes. Bill Ackman and his wife Neri Oxman, who have three children together, are part of Bill and Melinda Gates’ organization The Giving Pledge. As of the end of January 2023, the fortune of the legendary investor amounts to 3.5 billion US dollars, according to the business magazine Forbes. This makes him the 834th richest person in the world.
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