Financier Bill Ackman
Any sane financier is always looking for quick and big money, but what is there to think about, the goal of any hedge fund is profit, and few people care about the tools for achieving it.
Pressure on the board of directors, collusion, bribery and even in some cases the leaking of compromising evidence - all these are tools in the hands of financiers with which they can directly influence the deal and the price of shares.
However, not all investors follow this path, and you will learn about the success story of one of them in this article.
Bill Ackman was born on May 11, 1966 in a suburb of New York, namely in Chappaqua. From childhood, Bill was very purposeful, and all his zeal for success was supported by equally successful parents who were involved in the family business in real estate.
He received his basic education at Horace Greely High School, where he demonstrated not only excellent academic skills, but also quite good success in sports.
Education. Trader career
After graduating from high school, the future financier enters Harvard following his older sister.
It is worth noting that the training profile was related to art, not finance. However, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with honors in 1988.
After graduating from Harvard, he actively began to engage in real estate and successfully sold his first large property, Union Center Plaza, one of the largest business centers in Washington.
In 1990, Beal began to become actively interested in stocks, and in order to obtain an education in this area, he decided to resume his studies by studying at Harvard Business School.
While training, Bill opened his first account with a broker and made stock purchases in two companies that were going bankrupt. At the time of purchase, the shares cost only $8, and four years later their price exceeded $400 after debt restructuring.
However, Ackman only had the patience to hold the shares for a year, so he sold them for only $21.
It was after a while that Bill Ackman realized the simple truth that profits must be allowed to grow, and premature sales are comparable to lost opportunities.
After graduating from Harvard Business School, Bill Ackman decided to create his own hedge fund, which was called Gotham Partners.
It is worth noting that many discouraged Bill from creating a fund, since investors would not be attracted to him due to lack of experience. Nevertheless, the fund was created, and its first investor was the mother-in-law, who invested about three million dollars in the company.
Bill Ackman actively bought shares of small companies in order to get a seat on the board of directors and actively influence development from the inside.
The first major deal the fund took part in was an investment in Rockfeller Center. After the fund's successful entry into the deal, Bill became famous among investors, and his fund began to actively attract investors.
Thus, in literally five years of operation, the company’s capital grew from 3 to 500 million dollars.
In 2002, Ackman foresaw the coming mortgage crisis, so he was one of the first traders who not only dared to talk about the impending crisis, but also took a short trade against the mortgage company MBIA.
However, Ackman not only opened the deal, but also publicly revealed all the sins of the company. After this, a series of trials began that lasted six years.
However, when the crisis hit the rocks in 2008 and MBIA collapsed, Ackman made a large sum for his investors, despite the legal costs.
Then Bill Ackman founded another fund called Pershing Square, whose capital was only $50 million. By investing in McDonalds shares, the fund was able to earn more than 100 percent of the invested amount.
Today, Bill Ackman is actively involved in charity work through the Pershing Square Foundation he created. Ackman's capital is currently estimated at $1.4 billion.