The Julia La Roche Show

#100 Bill Ackman On Activist Investing, The Economy, And Learning From Mistakes


Listen Later

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman (@BillAckman), CEO of Pershing Square Capital, joins Julia La Roche on episode 100 for an exclusive and wide-ranging conversation.

In this episode, Ackman revisits the various eras of his investing career, from his first stock purchase as a Harvard Business School student to his bet against MBIA and his activist stake in Wendy’s. He also discusses his transition to a “quieter” phase of activist investing and his foray into tech investing with the recent addition of Google's parent company, Alphabet.
Along the way, Ackman shares lessons and insights on a range of topics, including raising capital in the face of rejection, learning from mistakes, and the importance of optimism and free speech.
Ackman also provides an update on the macroeconomic outlook, shares his thoughts on the 2024 presidential election, discusses the recent regional banking crisis, and more.


0:00 Welcome Bill Ackman to the show 

0:25 A ‘self study’ in investing 

1:30 The first stock Ackman purchased 

4:00 Raising capital like ‘blind dating’ 

5:45 Willingness to go against ‘the system’ 

8:30 Origins of Ackman’s persistence 

9:20 Incentives drive human behavior

11:30 Learning from mistakes/failure 

12:50 Optimism 

15:05 Why Ackman/Pershing Square survived the challenging years  

17:50 Codifying the eight principles in stone 

19:30 Three eras of Pershing Square

26:30 Rise of passive/indexing

31:10 Twitter/ free speech 

34:10 Macro assessment 

35:30 Longer-term risks to the economy 

37:45 2024 election 

39:40 Would Ackman ever run for office? 

41:10 Regional banks 

43:00 Buying Google/ impact of AI 

48:06 $600 million to philanthropy 

50:30 Parenting 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Julia La Roche ShowBy Julia La Roche

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

49 ratings


More shows like The Julia La Roche Show

View all
Macro Voices by Hedge Fund Manager Erik Townsend

Macro Voices

3,064 Listeners

Hidden Forces by Demetri Kofinas

Hidden Forces

1,440 Listeners

Grant’s Current Yield Podcast by Grant's Interest Rate Observer

Grant’s Current Yield Podcast

664 Listeners

Hedgeye Podcasts by Hedgeye Risk Management

Hedgeye Podcasts

198 Listeners

Palisades Gold Radio by Collin Kettell

Palisades Gold Radio

250 Listeners

The Market Huddle by Patrick Ceresna & Kevin Muir

The Market Huddle

362 Listeners

Eurodollar University by Jeff Snider

Eurodollar University

459 Listeners

The Grant Williams Podcast by Grant Williams

The Grant Williams Podcast

1,335 Listeners

Supply Shock by Blockworks

Supply Shock

112 Listeners

Wealthion - Be Financially Resilient by Wealthion

Wealthion - Be Financially Resilient

371 Listeners

The Jay Martin Show by Jay Martin

The Jay Martin Show

72 Listeners

Forward Guidance by Blockworks

Forward Guidance

272 Listeners

Thoughtful Money with Adam Taggart by Adam Taggart | Thoughtful Money

Thoughtful Money with Adam Taggart

388 Listeners

The David Lin Report by The David Lin Report

The David Lin Report

36 Listeners

Monetary Matters with Jack Farley by Jack Farley

Monetary Matters with Jack Farley

92 Listeners