Bill Ackman
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William Albert Ackman, born May 11, 1966, is a prominent American billionaire hedge fund manager, the visionary founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. Known as an activist investor, his net worth was estimated by Forbes in July 2025 at a staggering $9.4 billion. Beyond his financial acumen, Ackman is a dedicated philanthropist and a signatory of The Giving Pledge, vowing to dedicate at least half his wealth to charitable causes before his passing.
While historically a significant donor to Democratic candidates, Ackman made headlines with his endorsement of Donald Trump for the 2024 United States presidential election. He has also been a vocal advocate for Israel, particularly in the wake of the October 7th attacks, strongly criticizing pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses and calling for the resignation of Claudine Gay as president of Harvard.
Raised in Chappaqua, New York, Ackman is the son of Ronnie I. (née Posner) and Lawrence David Ackman, a former chairman of a New York real estate financing firm. Of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, he graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Studies from Harvard College in 1988, where his thesis explored "Scaling the Ivy Wall: The Jewish and Asian American Experience in Harvard Admissions." He further honed his skills with a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1992.
Ackman's career began in 1992 with the founding of Gotham Partners, an investment firm he established with fellow Harvard graduate David P. Berkowitz. The firm focused on small investments in public companies. A significant early venture saw Ackman partner with Leucadia National in a bid for Rockefeller Center, which, though unsuccessful, garnered considerable investor interest. By 1998, Gotham managed $500 million in assets. However, by 2002, the firm became entangled in litigation with external shareholders.
In 2002, Ackman initiated a challenge to Standard & Poor's AAA rating of MBIA bonds, involving extensive document review. He argued that MBIA's structured finance business should be separated from its municipal bond insurance business. He contended that MBIA was circumventing regulations by using a second corporation, LaCrosse Financial Products, to trade credit default swaps. Ackman profited significantly from this strategy during the 2008 financial crisis by buying credit default swaps against MBIA corporate debt. He reported closing his short position on MBIA in January 2009.
A notable conflict arose in 2003 between Ackman and Carl Icahn over an investment deal, leading to a lawsuit where Ackman successfully claimed his share of profits from a stock sale, resulting in Icahn paying $4.5 million plus interest and legal fees, totaling $9 million.
In 2004, Ackman launched Pershing Square Capital Management with $54 million from personal funds and Leucadia National. A significant investment in J. C. Penney began in 2010, with Pershing Square acquiring 18% of the company's stock. However, Ackman's two-year campaign to transform the department store ended abruptly in August 2013 when he resigned from the board due to disagreements.
Pershing Square's strong performance in 2014, delivering $4.5 billion in net gains for investors, led to Ackman being named one of the world's top 20 hedge fund managers by LCH Investments in January 2015.
In April 2016, Ackman testified before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging regarding Valeant Pharmaceuticals' business model and pricing practices, acknowledging his investment as an endorsement of their strategy. He sold his remaining Valeant shares in March 2017, incurring a substantial loss on the initial $4.6 billion investment.
Early in 2024, Ackman attempted to take Pershing Square public, aiming to raise $25 billion. However, after securing only $2 billion, the IPO was withdrawn on August 1, 2024, with plans for a relaunch under a new structure. Ackman served as chairman of Howard Hughes Holdings, a long-held Pershing investment, from 2010 until stepping down from its board in 2024.
A major public confrontation involved Ackman's December 2012 announcement of a $1 billion short bet against Herbalife, which he labeled a "pyramid scheme." This sparked a public feud with Carl Icahn, who challenged Ackman's claims on CNBC and subsequently took a stake in Herbalife. Ackman's Pershing Square funded an extensive public relations campaign against Herbalife, employing lobbying firms and organizing protests to pressure regulators. This campaign led to investigations by the Federal Trade Commission and other law enforcement agencies. While FBI probes into Herbalife and Ackman failed to yield sufficient evidence, multiple federal and state agencies found Herbalife committed wrongdoing. In July 2016, Herbalife settled with the FTC, agreeing to pay $200 million and restructure its business. In 2019, Herbalife paid the SEC $20 million for misleading statements about its China business, and in 2020, paid over $122 million to the Department of Justice and SEC for falsifying records and corrupt payments in China. In 2022, Herbalife settled a RICO violation case for $12.5 million. Ackman exited his Herbalife short position in February 2018 at a near billion-dollar loss, though he continued to bet against the company through put options.
Ahead of the 2020 stock market crash, Ackman effectively hedged Pershing Square's portfolio with a $27 million investment in credit protection, generating $2.6 billion in less than a month. He called for a "30-day shutdown" of the American economy to slow the spread of coronavirus, warning of dire economic consequences. He faced criticism for subsequently buying discounted equity stakes in companies he had warned could fail. Ackman later cited the film "Contagion" as a factor in his concern about COVID-19.
Ackman's investment style is characterized by making bold, often controversial calls. His notable market plays include shorting MBIA's bonds in 2008, a proxy fight with Canadian Pacific Railway, and stakes in Target Corporation, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. His $1 billion short against Herbalife from 2012 to 2018 was documented in the film "Betting on Zero." After a period of weak performance from 2015-2018, Ackman revamped his management approach, leading Pershing Square to a 58.1% return in 2019, making it one of the world's best-performing hedge funds. Critics have labeled him an "oligarch," citing his use of market manipulation and wealth to advance his policy preferences, particularly concerning Israel.
As a signatory of The Giving Pledge, Ackman is committed to donating at least 50% of his wealth to charitable causes. In 2006, he and his then-wife Karen founded the Pershing Square Foundation, which has committed over $750 million in grants to more than 100 organizations focused on economic development, education, healthcare, human rights, arts, and urban development. As of 2024, he and his wife, Neri Oxman, serve as co-trustees. Ackman and Oxman were listed among The Chronicle of Philanthropy's "Philanthropy 50" in 2021. In March 2021, he donated 26.5 million shares in Coupang, valued at $1.36 billion, to three entities, including his foundation. In December 2022, he auctioned a lunch for charity with the David Lynch Foundation, with proceeds supporting frontline healthcare workers, police, and veterans battling mental health issues. Ackman has also supported biologist David M. Sabatini, pledging $25 million over five years through his foundation and an anonymous donor to establish a new research laboratory.
Ackman has publicly supported Israel's actions in the Gaza war. Following the October 7th attacks, he demanded the names of Harvard student signatories of a letter condemning Israel's actions be published, stating they should not hide behind a "corporate shield." This stance drew criticism, with former Harvard president Lawrence Summers calling his request "McCarthyism." Ackman was reportedly part of a WhatsApp group chat with Israeli military leaders and U.S. business leaders aimed at shaping public opinion in favor of Israel. Members of this group discussed private briefings with Israeli government officials and collaborated on screening a film documenting the October 7th attacks. In April 2024, group members, including Ackman, held a video call with New York City Mayor Eric Adams to discuss pressuring Columbia University to shut down campus protests. Ackman's spokesperson stated he had not participated in the group chat since January 10, 2024. In November 2023, Ackman defended Elon Musk's comments on antisemitism and led a campaign to remove Claudine Gay as Harvard's president, citing her response to antisemitism as "insufficient" and amplifying plagiarism allegations. After Gay's resignation, Ackman called for the removal of Harvard Board Chair Penny Pritzker and other board members, describing DEI as the "root cause of antisemitism at Harvard" and "racism against white people." In January 2024, an exposé detailed plagiarism in his wife Neri Oxman's dissertation. Ackman pledged to conduct a plagiarism review of MIT faculty. On May 18, 2025, he defended President Trump's defunding of science research at Harvard on the grounds of antisemitism, claiming student protesters coordinated with Hamas and received foreign support. On June 14, 2025, Ackman tweeted advocating for the U.S. to join Israel in its war against Iran.
Ackman has a history of donating to Democratic candidates and organizations. He endorsed Michael Bloomberg in the 2016 presidential election and voted for Trump in the same election. In 2023, he expressed support for RFK Jr.'s stance on vaccinations. He endorsed Dean Phillips for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024. Following Phillips' withdrawal, Ackman donated to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign. In April 2024, he announced he would not support Joe Biden due to his alleged "lack of support" for Israel and was open to voting for Trump. On July 14, 2024, he endorsed Trump following his attempted assassination. In January 2024, Ackman stated he no longer wished to be associated with the Democratic Party. In July 2025, Tucker Carlson discussed Ackman's net worth and societal contributions at a Turning Point USA event, prompting Ackman to respond on social media about his upbringing and rise to wealth.
Ackman was married to Karen Ann Herskovitz, a landscape architect, from 1994 until their separation in 2016. They have three children. In 2018, he became engaged to Israeli-American designer Neri Oxman, and they married in January 2019. They welcomed their first child in spring 2019. As of 2017, Ackman owned a Gulfstream G550 business jet and a $90 million penthouse apartment in Manhattan, among other properties.
An amateur tennis player, Ackman played on his high school team and in junior circuits. He sponsored Frances Tiafoe during the 2010s. In 2025, at the age of 59, Ackman received a wildcard entry into the Hall of Fame Open, losing in a doubles match. The decision drew criticism from professional tennis players and journalists. Following the match, Ackman offered a $10 million endowment to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, which declined the offer.
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William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management, an investment management company. He has been described as an activist investor. As of July 2025, Ackman's net worth was estimated at $9.4 billion by Forbes.
Ackman is a philanthropist and signatory of The Giving Pledge, committing to give away at least 50 per cent of his wealth by the end of his life to charitable causes.
A long-time donor to Democratic candidates and organizations, Ackman endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 United States presidential election. Ackman has been an active supporter of Israel, particularly following the October 7 attacks, criticizing the 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses and calling for the resignation of Claudine Gay as president of Harvard.
== Early life and education ==
Ackman was raised in Chappaqua, New York, the son of Ronnie I. (née Posner) and Lawrence David Ackman, the former chairman of a New York real estate financing firm, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent.
In 1988, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in social studies from Harvard College. His thesis was titled "Scaling the Ivy Wall: The Jewish and Asian American Experience in Harvard Admissions". In 1992, he received a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
== Career ==
=== Gotham Partners ===
In 1992, Ackman founded the investment firm Gotham Partners with fellow Harvard graduate David P. Berkowitz. The firm made small investments in public companies. In 1995, Ackman partnered with the insurance and real estate firm Leucadia National to bid for Rockefeller Center. Although they did not win the deal, the bid generated interest in Gotham from investors: three years later, Gotham had $500 million in assets under management (AUM). By 2002, Gotham had become entrenched in litigation with various external shareholders who also owned an interest in the companies in which Gotham invested.
In 2002, Ackman researched MBIA in order to challenge Standard & Poor's AAA rating of its bonds. At a billed cost of more than $100,000, his law firm copied 725,000 pages of statements regarding the financial services company to comply with a subpoena. Ackman called for a division between MBIA's structured finance business and its municipal bond insurance business.
He argued that MBIA was legally restricted from trading billions of dollars of credit default swap protection that it had sold against various mortgage-backed collateralized debt obligations, and was using a second corporation, LaCrosse Financial Products, which MBIA described as an "orphaned transformer". Ackman bought credit default swaps against MBIA corporate debt and sold them for a large profit during the 2008 financial crisis. He reported covering his short position on MBIA on January 16, 2009, according to the 13D filed with the SEC.
In 2003, a feud developed between Ackman and Carl Icahn over an investment deal. Ackman sued Icahn for his share of profits in a stock sale, and in 2011, Icahn was forced to pay the $4.5 million plus 10% interest per year and legal fees, totaling $9 million.
=== Pershing Square Capital Management ===
In 2004, with $54 million from his personal funds and from his former business partner Leucadia National, Ackman started Pershing Square Capital Management.
In 2010 Pershing started buying J. C. Penney shares, paying an average of $22 for 39 million shares or 18% of J.C. Penney's stock. In August 2013, the two-year campaign to transform the department store came to an abrupt end when Ackman stepped down from the board following a disagreement with fellow board members.
In January 2015, LCH Investments named Ackman one of the world's top 20 hedge fund managers after Pershing Square delivered $4.5 billion in net gains for investors in 2014, bringing the fund's lifetime gains to $11.6 billion since its launch in 2004 through 2014.
On April 27, 2016, Ackman, along with Valeant Pharmaceuticals' outgoing CEO, J. Michael Pearson, and the company's former interim CEO, Howard Schiller, testified before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging. The testifying panel answered questions related to the committee's concerns about repercussions to patients and the health care system posed by Valeant's business model and controversial pricing practices. Ackman opened his testimony saying, "As a shareholder of Valeant, I recognize my investment was an... endorsement of Valeant's strategy." Ackman sold his remaining 27.2 million share position in Valeant to the investment bank Jefferies for about $300 million in March 2017. It has been estimated that the total cost of the position, including direct stock purchases and 9.1 million shares that were underlying stock options traded with Nomura Global Financial Products, was $4.6 billion, leading to a substantial loss.
In early 2024, Ackman aimed to raise $25 billion to take Pershing Square public. However, after securing only $2 billion, he decided to withdraw the IPO on August 1, 2024. He announced plans to relaunch a version of the fund with a new "transaction structure."
Ackman was chairman of Howard Hughes Holdings, one of Pershing's longest-held investment, from 2010 until 2024, when he stepped down from its board.
==== Herbalife short ====
In December 2012, Ackman announced that Pershing Square had made a $1 billion short bet against Herbalife, a maker of weight-loss and vitamin supplements, calling the company a "pyramid scheme".
A few months after Ackman's initial comments, billionaire investor Carl Icahn challenged Ackman's comment during a dual appearance by Ackman and Icahn on CNBC, during which both men insulted each other. Following this, Icahn announced a stake in Herbalife in January 2013. Over the following years, Icahn continued to buy Herbalife shares to combat Ackman's short.
Ackman's Pershing Square funded a persistent public relations campaign against Herbalife in an attempt to pressure state and federal regulators to investigate the company. He hired numerous lobbying firms, and had his team organize protests and letter writing campaigns. Ackman also paid organizations to help find victims of Herbalife, and personally lobbied Senator Linda Sánchez and the office of Senator Ed Markey, both of whom later sent letters to federal regulators. Following this campaign, the Federal Trade Commission initiated an investigation into Herbalife. Other regulators and law enforcement also got involved. In April 2014, Reuters reported that the FBI conducted a probe into Herbalife and reviewed documents obtained from the company's former distributors. On March 12, 2015, it was reported that federal prosecutors and the FBI were probing whether some people hired by Ackman made false statements in an attempt to encourage investigations and lower Herbalife's stock; Ackman was quoted that he would not back down from his claims against Herbalife. Neither Ackman nor Pershing Square were subpoenaed. The FBI probes affecting Herbalife and Ackman both failed to find sufficient evidence and were not pursued further.
Multiple Federal and State agencies found that Herbalife committed wrongdoing. In July 2016, Herbalife settled with the Federal Trade Commission, agreeing to pay $200 million and restructure its business practices in exchange for avoiding being labelled as a pyramid scheme. The FTC found that Herbalife "deceived consumers" and that "the small minority of distributors who do make a lot of money are compensated for recruiting new distributors." In 2019, Herbalife paid the SEC $20 million to settle charges that it made false and misleading statements about its China business model. In 2020, Herbalife paid more than $122 million after the Department of Justice and SEC found Herbalife "falsif[ied] books and records and provide[d] corrupt payments and benefits to Chinese government officials for the purpose of obtaining, retaining, and increasing Herbalife's business in China." In 2022, Herbalife paid $12.5 million settled a case of alleged RICO violations.
In November 2017, Ackman said that he had covered his short-sell position, but would continue to bet against Herbalife using put options. On February 28, 2018, Ackman exited his near billion-dollar bet against Herbalife at a loss.
==== COVID-19 response ====
Ahead of the 2020 stock market crash, Ackman hedged Pershing Square's portfolio, investing $27 million to purchase credit protection, insuring the portfolio against steep market losses. Pershing Square first disclosed the hedge on March 3, 2020. According to Reuters, "Ackman said hedging was preferable to selling off his portfolio of companies whose businesses are otherwise strong." The hedge was effective, generating $2.6 billion in less than one month.
On March 18, 2020, in a phone interview with CNBC, Ackman called upon President Donald Trump for a "30-day shutdown" of the American economy to slow the spread of coronavirus and minimize loss of life and ensuing economic destruction resulting from the shutdown. Ackman warned that without intervention, hotel stocks were "going to zero" and said that America could "end as we know it". He also cautioned U.S. companies to stop stock buyback programs because "hell is coming".
Ackman later received criticism for actively buying discounted equity stakes in the very companies he was warning could fail; however, Ackman already had realized roughly half of the gains before appearing during the CNBC interview.
In a November 2020 interview, Ackman said that he had grown concerned about COVID-19 because he had seen the film Contagion.
== Investment style ==
Ackman has said that his most successful investments have always been controversial, and that his first rule of activist investing is to "make a bold call that nobody believes in".
His most notable market plays include shorting MBIA's bonds during the 2008 financial crisis, his proxy fight with Canadian Pacific Railway, and his stakes in the Target Corporation, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, and Chipotle Mexican Grill. From 2012 to 2018, Ackman held a US$1 billion short against the nutrition company Herbalife, a company he has described as a pyramid scheme designed as a multi-level marketing firm. His efforts were reported in the documentary film Betting on Zero.
After weak performance in 2015–2018, Ackman reworked his management of Pershing Square. The next year, Pershing Square returned 58.1%, which Reuters says qualified it as "one of the world's best performing hedge funds" for 2019.
Critics of Ackman have called him an oligarch, basing accusations on his use of market manipulation and use of his wealth to push for his own policy preferences, particularly with respect to Israel.
== Philanthropy ==
Ackman is a signer of The Giving Pledge, committing to give away at least 50 per cent of his wealth by the end of his life to charitable causes. In 2006, Ackman, and his then wife Karen, founded the Pershing Square Foundation to fund innovative organizations focused on economic development, education, healthcare, human rights, arts and urban development and more. Since its inception, the foundation has committed more than $750 million in grants to more than 100 organizations. Grantees have included One Acre Fund, Saïd Business School's Oxford-Pershing Square Graduate Scholarships, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Center for Jewish History, Innocence Project, African Parks and Planned Parenthood. Ackman and his wife, Neri Oxman, are the Foundation's co-trustees as of 2024. In 2011, Bill and Karen Ackman were on The Chronicle of Philanthropy's "Philanthropy 50" list of the most generous donors; Ackman was listed again in 2021 with Neri Oxman.
On March 15, 2021, he announced that he donated 26.5 million shares in South Korean e-commerce company Coupang, valued at $1.36 billion, to three entities, one of them his own foundation.
In December 2022, Ackman auctioned a lunch with himself for charity in partnership with the David Lynch Foundation. The proceeds would go toward helping "New York's frontline healthcare workers, police and veterans who battle anxiety, depression, addiction and suicide every day", with Ackman matching the winning bid to support the foundation. The highest winning bid over prior instances was $210,000.
Ackman is a supporter of David M. Sabatini, a biologist who was previously fired by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and resigned from the Whitehead Institute and MIT due to allegations and investigations of sexual misconduct. On March 1, 2022, at a Pershing Square Foundation event, he delivered remarks about what he called Sabatini's unfair treatment. In February 2023, Ackman announced that his foundation and an anonymous donor would together fund Sabatini US$25 million over five years to establish and run a new research laboratory.
== Personal views ==
=== Support of Israel ===
Bill Ackman has expressed public support for Israel's actions in the Gaza war.
On October 8, 2023, following the October 7 attacks, several Harvard undergraduate student groups signed a letter condemning statements from Israeli officials promising to "open the gates of hell" in Gaza, blamed Israeli apartheid for the war, and said Israel's blockade turned Gaza into an "open-air prison". The letter called on Harvard to "take action to stop the ongoing annihilation of Palestinians." In response, Ackman demanded the publication of the names of all students involved in signing the letter so that he could ensure his company and others do not "inadvertently hire" any of the signatories. Ackman posted, "One should not be able to hide behind a corporate shield when issuing statements supporting the actions of terrorists," and the names "should be made public so their views are publicly known".
Ackman's stance had support by other CEOs such as Jonathan Neman. Former Harvard president Lawrence Summers said Ackman's request for a list of names constituted McCarthyism.
Ackman was involved in a long-standing WhatsApp group chat with Israeli military leaders and top US business leaders with the stated goal to "change the narrative" in favor of Israel by conveying "the atrocities committed by Hamas" and "help [Israel] win the war" on U.S. public opinion following U.S. protests against the Gaza war. Information about the WhatsApp group chat was reported by The Washington Post on May 16, 2024. Members of the group chat discussed how they received private briefings by, and worked closely with, members of the Israeli government, including former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett; Benny Gantz, a member of the Israeli war cabinet; and Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Herzog. Group members, including Ackman, worked with the Israeli government to screen a film titled "Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre", which shows footage compiled by the Israeli Defense Forces portraying killings committed by Hamas on October 7. Screenings of the film were conducted in New York City and, with Ackman's help, at Harvard University, his alma mater.
Members of the 2023–2024 WhatsApp group chat also held a video call in April 2024 with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to, according to reporting by The Washington Post, "pressure Columbia's president and trustees to permit the mayor to send police to the campus" to shut down the campus protests. During the video call, group members discussed making political donations to Adams. A spokesperson for Ackman said he had not participated in the group chat since January 10, 2024, and that although Ackman "likes and is supportive of the Mayor," he had never spoken to Adams about the Columbia protests or donated to Adams's campaign.
In November 2023, Ackman supported Elon Musk after he expressed support for antisemitic remarks made by an X user who falsely asserted that "Jewish communities" supported "hordes of minorities flooding their country" and pushed "dialectical hatred against whites", describing it as "shoot from the hip commentary". The same month, Ackman engaged in a campaign to remove Claudine Gay from her position as Harvard's president. He argued that her response to antisemitism was "insufficient" and amplified allegations that she engaged in plagiarism. After Gay resigned in January 2024, Ackman called for the resignation of Harvard Board Chair Penny Pritzker and other members of the board on Twitter, and described the university's diversity, equity, and inclusion movement as the "root cause of antisemitism at Harvard" and "racism against white people".
On January 3, 2024, Business Insider published an exposé detailing how Ackman's wife, Neri Oxman, plagiarized portions of her dissertation. A day after the article's publication, Oxman apologized for "citation errors" in portions of her dissertation. Ackman, in response to the article, pledged to conduct a plagiarism review of all MIT faculty, including MIT's president, Sally Kornbluth, who, alongside Gay, attended a congressional hearing on antisemitism in higher education.
On May 18, 2025, Ackman defended President Trump's defunding of science research at Harvard on the grounds of antisemitism on campus during a panel at the Center for Jewish History with Deborah Lipstadt and Leon Wieseltier. He also claimed there was evidence that university student protesters coordinated with Hamas and received support from foreign adversaries.
On June 14, 2025, Ackman posted a tweet on Twitter advocating for the US to join Israel in its war against Iran.
=== US politics ===
Ackman is a long-time donor to Democratic candidates and organizations, including Richard Blumenthal, Chuck Schumer, Robert Menendez, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He endorsed Michael Bloomberg as a prospective candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election. Ackman voted for Trump in the 2016 election.
In 2023 Ackman declared support for RFK Jr's stance on vaccinations, saying "I listened to RFK on several podcasts and a town hall and thought he raised important issues about vaccines and other issues that were worth learning more about (...) I don't feel like we've fully answered questions about the safety of all vaccines, particularly more recently approved vaccines, and our approach to determining their safety and efficacy."
Ackman supported the Democratic Party and endorsed Congressman Dean Phillips for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2024 presidential primaries. On January 15, 2024, Phillips floated a possible Cabinet post for Ackman and Elon Musk in a forum with them. Following the suspension of Phillips' candidacy, Ackman donated to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign. In April 2024, Ackman announced via X that he would not support Joe Biden in the upcoming election because of Biden's alleged "lack of support" for Israel and that he was open to voting for former President Trump. On July 14, 2024, Ackman endorsed Trump in the aftermath of his attempted assassination.
On January 12, 2024, in an interview with CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin on "Squawk Box", Ackman stated he no longer wants to be associated with the Democratic Party and stated he does not want to be part of a party.
In July 2025, Turning Point USA had Tucker Carlson, former Fox News host, where he spoke about Ackman's net worth and his contributions to society. Ackman responded through multiple social media outlets about his upraising and rise to wealth.
== Personal life ==
Ackman married Karen Ann Herskovitz, a landscape architect, on July 10, 1994. They have three children. On December 22, 2016, it was reported that the couple had separated.
In 2018, Ackman became engaged to Israeli-American designer Neri Oxman. In January 2019, Oxman and Ackman married at the Central Synagogue in Manhattan, and they had their first child together in spring 2019.
Ackman owned a Gulfstream G550 business jet, as of 2017. He owns a $90 million penthouse apartment in Manhattan, among other residential properties.
=== Tennis ===
Ackman is an amateur tennis player who played on his high school team. He also played junior tennis in the U.S. and Europe although not at a competitive level. During the 2010s, Ackman sponsored Frances Tiafoe.
Ackman received a wild card berth at the Hall of Fame Open in 2025 at the age of 59, where he lost in a doubles match with Jack Sock to Omar Jasika and Bernard Tomic. Professional tennis players and journalists, such as Andy Roddick, Martina Navratilova, and Jon Wertheim, criticized the decision to allow Ackman to play in a professional tournament as improper and noted the disparity in ability between Ackman and the other players. Roddick also questioned the effort made by the professional players, saying "there was exactly one person on that court trying as hard as they could." After the match, Ackman offered a $10 million endowment to the International Tennis Hall of Fame, which declined the offer.
== References ==
== Further reading ==
Cheffins, Brian R. (2014). "Hedge Fund Activism Canadian Style". University of British Columbia Law Review. 47 (1): 1–59 (Discussing Pershing Square's activities in Canada, and a unique cultural reluctance to support active value creation by ethical intervening shareholders). SSRN 2204294.
Rojas, Claudio R. (2014). "An Indeterminate Theory of Canadian Corporate Law". University of British Columbia Law Review. 47 (1): 59–128 ("The author's perspective on Berkshire Hathaway's investment philosophy was informed by discussions with Warren Buffett in Omaha, Nebraska": pp. 59, 122–124). SSRN 2391775.
Richard, Christine. Confidence Game (Wiley, 2010) with Bloomberg News.
Shane Parrish (2020). "Bill Ackman: Getting Back Up" (Podcast). Farnam Street's The Knowledge Project. Retrieved July 26, 2020.
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