Bill Ackman: 1966–2008

Great Business Stories vor 6 Monaten

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33:26

I’m breaking up Ackman’s story into three, maybe even four parts
because, like him or loathe him, Ackman is a very interesting
character. I’ll kick it off with a quote from Carl Icahn, the
legendary Wall Street investor who has tussled with Ackman on
more than one occasion, and this kind of encapsulates the core of
Ackman’s character:

“I would be a very happy man in life if I could be as certain of
just one thing as he is certain about everything.”

And really, that’s Ackman in a nutshell—supremely, annoyingly
confident, to the point of arrogance. Yet it is this confidence,
combined with intelligence and persistence, that has resulted in
the Ackman we know today—sticking his nose into everything from
college admissions, to DEI, to Israel and Ukraine, while also
building up a fortune estimated to be $9.6 billion at the time of
recording.

So in this episode, I dig into how he started off. It’s a
fascinating story. Enjoy.