The Ackman Complex

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“May I meet you?” — Bill Ackman, 2025Most hedge funds cultivate exclusivity. Try getting capacity in Chris Hohn’s TCI without a private bank relationship or an endowment pedigree and you’ll likely hit a wall. Many have skeletal websites or none at all; the one where I used to work didn’t even put its name on the door. Scarcity enhances the brand.Pershing Square is different. Since losing most of its legacy assets after four consecutive down years between 2015 and 2018, the majority of its funds come from a London-listed entity, Pershing Square Holdings. Of the $16 billion in equity capital the firm currently manages, $14 billion sits in London. And anyone can access it: a single share of Pershing Square Holdings trades on the London Stock Exchange for £44.06 ($60.11). As a result, the firm’s investor base includes everyone from pensioners to pension funds.This week, hundreds gathered at the firm’s annual investor presentation at London’s Chancery Rosewood Hotel, housed within the former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square. Descending several stories below ground level into what was formerly a CIA safe room, shareholders settled in for a two-and-a-half-hour presentation. Bill Ackman couldn’t attend due to a family medical emergency but he joined remotely, leaving CIO Ryan Israel to lead in person alongside a team of analysts. Having delivered 20.9% after fees last year (even if down 5.4% so far this year), they faced a largely satisfied room.Yet even as the fund has shed its exclusivity, so has its portfolio. The team presented a largely unchanged portfolio of 13 stocks, all of t…