About two years ago, Bill Ackman rediscovered his investment mojo and he has barely looked back since. In many ways, this is just as well, as the billionaire activist investor in charge of the portfolio at Pershing Square Holdings had suffered three years of woeful performance and must surely have been trying investors’ patience.
As part of the back-to-basics approach he adopted in early 2018, Mr Ackman, 53, shed some of his previous day-to-day responsibilities — meeting investors and the like — to concentrate exclusively on managing the investment trust’s money. He stopped taking short positions, or betting on company share prices falling, and re-embraced his own stockpicking style and hands-on approach to engaging with company managements.
He has been rewarded with a prolonged period