For years, Bill Ackman wanted to be considered the Warren Buffett of his generation. On the face of it, the comparison seemed absurd. Buffett, after all, was the avuncular and frugal midwestern investing oracle whose portfolio reflected blue-chip totems of Rockwellian Americana—Coca-Cola, Geico, Kraft Heinz, Bank of America, GE, Goldman Sachs and, for a time, the Graham family’s Washington Post. Ackman, for his part, was a bombastic New Yorker famous in the public imagination for chest-thumping feuds with fellow heavyweight hedge fund peers like Dan Loeb and Carl Icahn.
Inside Ackman’s $4 Billion Gamble
William D. Cohan
June 16, 2021
