Earn Your Luck: Bill Ackman Says He’s ‘Uncancelable’
The founder of Pershing Square Holdings opens up about his mistakes, his anti-DEI crusades and why he still hates to pay for parking.
IT’S SAFE TO SAY Bill Ackman isn’t afraid of getting canceled. No matter how you view his posts about DEI, antisemitism or free speech—either as articulate counterpoints or as rambling, impolitic screeds—no one can deny that they’ve resonated far beyond his 1.8 million followers on X.
Being loud comes naturally to Ackman, the son of the commercial real estate broker Larry Ackman, who was known for being the outspoken parent at PTA meetings. Born in Manhattan, Bill grew up in Chappaqua, N.Y., in a $56,000 home that was a “stretch” for his father. Ackman credits his drive in part to his dad making it clear not to expect a penny’s inheritance from him.
When he was still in his 20s, Ackman launched Gotham Partners with $3.1 million in funds. He quickly pivoted to activist investing. As CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, he’s seen some spectacular highs (the restructuring of mall operator General Growth Properties and Canadian Pacific Railway) and crushing lows (a hefty position in Valeant Pharmaceuticals cost him an estimated $4 billion when the stock plummeted). Of the losses, Ackman now says, “That would have been the end, but no f—king way was I going to let them liquidate me.”
Ackman has recently turned his megaphone to social issues, cementing his place among a brotocracy of the nation’s wealthiest men trying to dictate policy. He was Harvard’s most vociferous critic for its handling of pro-Palestinian student protests. Some saw his efforts contributing to the resignation of the university’s president, Claudine Gay, as laudable, while others found them deplorable. Asked why he’s the rare Wall Street executive to comment on polarizing issues, he says, “Everyone is afraid of losing business. If you don’t want to buy my stock, you know, don’t buy my stock. Who cares?”