- Source of Wealth: Pershing Square Capital Management
- Age: 53
- Birth Place: New York, New York, United States of America
- Marital Status: Divorced (Karen Ann Herskovitz)
- Full Name: William Albert Ackman
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: 11 May 1966
- Occupation: Investor, Hedge Fund Manager, and Philanthropist
- Education: Harvard Business School – Harvard University
- Children: 3
William Albert Ackman is an American philanthropist, investor, and hedge fund manager with a net worth of $1.1 billion. He’s the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management – a hedge fund management company. People consider Ackman as a contrarian investor but he considers himself an activist investor. According to research from The University of Oxford, they characterize Bill Ackman’s activities with the Canadian Pacific Railway as a paradigm of “engaged activism.” The longer term in nature have correlated benefits to the real economy and can be distinct from the shorter term “financial activism.”
Ackman co-founded The Pershing Square Foundation with his wife Karen in 2006. It aims to support innovation in the areas of education, economic development, human rights, health care, urban development, and arts. Since its founding, the Foundation has committed more than $400 million in social investments and grants. Last 2011, the Ackmans were in The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “Philanthropy 50” list of the most generous donors.
Last July 2014, the Challenged Athletes Foundation honored Ackman at a gala fundraiser at New York City’s Waldorf Astoria hotel because he helped raise a record $2.3 million. Since 2012, he held a $ 1 billion short against Herbalife, a nutrition company that has a pyramid scheme designed as a multi-level marketing company. Betting on Zero documented his efforts.