Who is Bill Ackman?
While many investors were nursing losses due to the coronavirus sell off, hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was raking in billions. You may have seen his warning on the 27th March 2020 in an interview with CNBC where he warned that ‘hell is coming.’
His hedge fund Pershing Square Capital sold-off some of their holdings including a large position in Starbucks and placed a $27 million hedge to protect his $6.5 billion portfolio. For those who don’t know, a hedge is a way to protect yourself against financial loss. According to the Financial Times, Ackman bought credit protection on high yielding bonds to protect his portfolio that resulted in a profit of $2.6 billion. Ackman admitted that he considered selling off all his positions prior to placing the successful hedge. Let’s see how it all started for Ackman.
William Ackman was born in Chappaqua, a wealthy New York suburb in 1951. His father, Lawrence Ackman owned a commercial real estate financing firm Ackman Ziff Real Estate and his mother Ronnie Ackman served on the board of New York’s Lincoln Centre. Ackman is known for his arrogance betting his father $2000 he would score 800 in the SATs. The $2000 was all the money Ackman had saved up from household chores and his Bar Mitzvah…
