Bill Ackman
KEY THREATS:
Far-Right Financier Anti-DEI Crusader Spreading anti-vax messaging If activist investor Bill Ackman’s ‘activism’ was limited to his blog-length Twitter/X rants on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the world would be a better place. Unfortunately, he is in the business of buying influential stakes in companies, forcing through ‘efficiencies’ like eliminating jobs, and then selling his stake for a profit at the cost of livelihoods and business longevity.
His ‘activism’ goes beyond the world of business. Ackman is a prolific campus conservative culture warrior. He joined the campaign to force Claudine Gay, Harvard’s first Black female president, out of her job after criticizing her for not cracking down on pro-Palestinian speech on campus.
Like many oligarchs, Ackman went from Democratic donor to endorsing Trump and funding Republicans, though not before a pit stop supporting RFK Jr.’s independent run and echoing his anti-vaccine talking points.
Was this pivot for profit, or personal? According to him, it may be related to his daughter going to college and becoming, in his words, “an anti-capitalist” who would “freak out at the table” when discussing capitalism.
NET WORTH
Founder and Chief Executive
Pershing Square Capital Management
OTHER COMPANIES
Howard Hughes Holdings (Chair)
LINKED TO
Donald Trump
AGE
60
STATE
New York
PART OF
Controversies
- Used his influence as a Harvard donor to call for the firing of Claudine Gay, the university’s first Black president, generating controversy which ultimately resulted in her resignation
- Called on Harvard to publicly release the names of students affiliated with pro-Palestine campus groups
- Appears to literally believe that people’s names determine their lives, telling a reporter from NY Magazine: “I have a view that people become their names …Like, I’ve met people named Hamburger that own McDonald’s franchises.” The piece continues:
- “We’d been talking for nearly an hour and a half when Ackman asked me what my name was, hoping to offer a diagnosis. After he seemed momentarily stumped by my surname, I offered him my first name, which he misheard as Reed. ‘Read … write,’ he said, before turning back to himself. ‘So, my name is Ackman — it’s like Activist Man.’”
Enabling Campus Crackdowns
Ackman has used his Twitter/X account as a platform to rage against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). He called for the firing of top university administrators at schools, including Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania, criticizing the university presidents for their responses to campus protests for Gaza. Ackman also railed against DEI policies at Harvard. After this led to Harvard University’s first Black president resigning, Ackman stated that “DEI is racist.”
Private Equity Apocalypse
Ackman made his fortune as an “activist investor,” which describes the practice of investors who buy large stakes in a company, use their influence to force changes that, according to The Nation, often include “slashing costs, restructuring management, selling off assets, and redistributing cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks,” with the goal of selling off the stake at a profit. Ackman has activist invested in companies including JCPenney and the Canadian Pacific Railway. He bought a stake in JCPenney in 2010, and less than three years later resigned from the board and sold off his entire stake at a loss. JC Penney continued to struggle for years after that, ultimately filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020, a move that cost thousands of workers their jobs.
A Forbes article highlighting the five people most responsible for JCPenney’s downfall ranked Bill Ackman number one, saying Ackman’s role was “A monumental mistake, unprecedented in modern American retailing history.” The author concluded, “[i]n my opinion, it can be said unequivocally that had he not done what he did to JCPenney, it would not have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.” According to The Nation, when Ackman invested in Canadian Pacific Railway, the CEO installed by Ackman “imposed an aggressive cost-cutting program that required many fewer locomotives and reduced the workforce by more than 6,000.” At the beginning of the pandemic, Ackman also made $2.6 billion betting that the stock market would drop.
