We admit to having a serious soft spot for Bill Ackman and Pershing Square. For one, you have to love the hedge fund manager that actually sits down with Charlie Rose for an hour (or more). Plus, well, it’s Bill Ackman! So you can imagine our relief when we learned that Pershing Square had mostly dodged the bullet in 2008 and emerged down just 11.8% net of fees, including a totally flat (0.0% gross -0.2% net) return in December. Phew!
Oddly, they don’t report much of a short portfolio (6% overall). But who knows when that snapshot was taken and their hedged-sounding returns might have something to do with the $1.6 billion in credit default swaps that they’ve been holding.
Anyhow, we love you Bill! Call us, ‘kay? We’d love to hear about your strategies and maybe we could make an EP-BA-BL sandwich after? No promises.
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I was only down 9.8% for 2008, can I have a EP/BL sandwich?
too menage a trois, didn’t read
This is Bill Ackman. Pics first.
all of the sudden, I’m hungry…meet you guys in the soho office – my treat. no really, MY treat.
Bet the mayo guy is just dying to chime in on this one.
yeah can i have one of those without the BA please and a bit of whipped cream on the side?
Fuck mayo, if a problem comes along you.. whipped cream it
BL sandwich, hold the BA and EP and add one of the Noel daughters please
this reminds me, anyone else see the transgender roommate on the real world brooklyn – how fitting. I have a feeling this season could be just weird enough to make me want to watch that show again…
You mean you can put whipped cream on food, too????
~The Forehead Slapper
Sorry for the cross-post, I’m in business banking for a bulge bracket firm, pretty miserable as a recent grad to be working with all older people in a terrible group, should I quit, or suck it up?
@12 – are you kidding? never quit a job without having another one already lined up. where did you go to school? stop the nonsense – this is a recession bordering on depression. make sure you have a seat when the music stops.
No sex in the champagne room my ass! I had a ball last night at SCORES!!!
- The Gainfully Employed
@12 stay the dinosuars will be the first to go and you inheret the earth
One can only imagine the exhaustion met with gluing your own eyebrows on each morning. Don’t browbeat me, Ackman.
EP has truly become a journalist today…offering sex for a story!
@ 16 hahaha
@13, 15
How baout going back for an MBA, two years things could be a little better.
They still have that long on Wachovia?
@12….yes you should quit. As soon as possible. You already know everything. On your way out, be polite and say, “Bye guys and thanks to you my resume won’t be in Japanese, German, Korean or Vietnamese.” Then you won’t appear to be such an asshole from their viewpoint.
What’s Wachovia?
16 is a shoo in, for hata of the year!
@19 – mba is an option, very competitive this year. I wrote recs for several people, the early returns haven’t been good (perhaps they asked the wrong guy to write the rec). I would agree that things should be better in 2 years, but school isn’t cheap – make sure you go to the right one for YOU. as much as I love my b-school, it isn’t for everyone (just for everyone to make fun of – jealous b1tches!)…
@12 LOL you said “bulge.”
EP and BL sandwich? Damn.
Problem is, many of us who still have jobs aren’t having a very good time, of course, as others pointed out, always better to be collecting a paycheck from the Co than the Gov (99.9% at least), and CFA/MBA/etc are all overcrowded this year, and likely will be next as well.
Everyone running for the doors @ the same time goin on.
If anyone read Michael Lewis’ piece in BBG about career vs. calling: Yea, so Finance isn’t what alot of us got into it for (at the moment/foreseeable future), and yea, many of us would love LOVE to be doing something more “fulfilling”, but, uh, Mr. Lewis, how, preytell, do you suggest going about getting into these things when many have a ton less $ than they used to (if they ever did), there are very few jobs – let alone rewarding ones – available, and the next year or two looks increasingly bleak?
You would have to mix something really sweet with this collection of pigs to get to -12% for 2008.
28 postscript:
http://idea.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1336528/000117266108000803/pers3q08.txt
@27 CFA is crowded? Just need to have your check clear. No competition to take the exam, and if what you say is true then that means at worst the same proportion of good candidates or more likely a greater proportion of unqualified candidates.
If CFAs become a dime a dozen, just means you’re going to need one just to get the interview next time around. Still going to have to get it.
MBA obviously gonna be a bit tighter, more perma-students with inflated GPA’s that aren’t you que’ing up, most of whom have Mom to comp the apartment while “getting an education”.
Ackman is a fraud. Attacks the mortgage insurers and now wants to use the same concept and get long krap thru leverage by getting long GGP and wanting to turn target into a REIT
Agreed on Ackman – his list of investments, other than Longs Drugs and his mbia/abk shorts, is atrocious. no way he was only down 12%, especially if he was only 6% short. he is CRUSHED on Target, VISA, wendy’s, sears … Just another guy talking his book and providing no real numbers to back it up. kind of like madoff…
it’s all about speaker series!! cannot wait to go!!
NYC:
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CODE: INFO
Chicago:
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Boston:
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CODE: 2009PUNDIT
*Heather
His Target (TGT) only fund was down 60%-70% and lost over a billion dollars so why don’t you stop with this hero worship you little tart.
Wanna buy a golf course?