Bill Ackman

And a lot of the early things that we did were, you know, call it what we call sort of like investment banking activism, where we'd go in and recommend something a good investment bank would have recommended. And if they do it, we make a bunch of money, and then we moved on to the next one.

And then we realized an investment, a company called General Growth, was the first time we took a board seat on a company. And there was some financial restructuring and also an opportunity to improve the operations of the business, sit on the board of a company. And that was one of the best investments we ever made. And we said, okay, we can do more than just be an outside the boardroom investor.

And then we realized an investment, a company called General Growth, was the first time we took a board seat on a company. And there was some financial restructuring and also an opportunity to improve the operations of the business, sit on the board of a company. And that was one of the best investments we ever made. And we said, okay, we can do more than just be an outside the boardroom investor.

And then we realized an investment, a company called General Growth, was the first time we took a board seat on a company. And there was some financial restructuring and also an opportunity to improve the operations of the business, sit on the board of a company. And that was one of the best investments we ever made. And we said, okay, we can do more than just be an outside the boardroom investor.

And we can get involved in helping select the right management teams and helping guide the right management teams. And then we've done that over years. And then I would say the last seven years, we haven't had to be an activist. An activist is generally someone who's outside banging on the door, trying to get in.

And we can get involved in helping select the right management teams and helping guide the right management teams. And then we've done that over years. And then I would say the last seven years, we haven't had to be an activist. An activist is generally someone who's outside banging on the door, trying to get in.

And we can get involved in helping select the right management teams and helping guide the right management teams. And then we've done that over years. And then I would say the last seven years, we haven't had to be an activist. An activist is generally someone who's outside banging on the door, trying to get in.

We're sort of built enough credibility that they open the door and they say, hey, Bill, what ideas do you have? So welcome, would you like to join the board? We're treated differently today than we were in the beginning. And that is, I would say, some people might just call it being an engaged owner.

We're sort of built enough credibility that they open the door and they say, hey, Bill, what ideas do you have? So welcome, would you like to join the board? We're treated differently today than we were in the beginning. And that is, I would say, some people might just call it being an engaged owner.

We're sort of built enough credibility that they open the door and they say, hey, Bill, what ideas do you have? So welcome, would you like to join the board? We're treated differently today than we were in the beginning. And that is, I would say, some people might just call it being an engaged owner.

By the way, that's the way investing was done in the Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan days, you know, 150 years ago, right? You had these iconic business leaders that would own 20% of US steel. And when things would go wrong, they'd replace the board and the management and fix them. And over time, we went to a world where mutual funds were created like in the 1920s, 30s.

By the way, that's the way investing was done in the Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan days, you know, 150 years ago, right? You had these iconic business leaders that would own 20% of US steel. And when things would go wrong, they'd replace the board and the management and fix them. And over time, we went to a world where mutual funds were created like in the 1920s, 30s.

By the way, that's the way investing was done in the Andrew Carnegie, JP Morgan days, you know, 150 years ago, right? You had these iconic business leaders that would own 20% of US steel. And when things would go wrong, they'd replace the board and the management and fix them. And over time, we went to a world where mutual funds were created like in the 1920s, 30s.

index funds with Vanguard and others. And that all these controlling shareholders would kind of gave their stock to society or their children and multiple generations. And there were no longer kind of controlling owners of businesses or very few. And that led to underperformance and the opportunity for activists over time. And what activism has done, and I think we've helped lead this movement,

index funds with Vanguard and others. And that all these controlling shareholders would kind of gave their stock to society or their children and multiple generations. And there were no longer kind of controlling owners of businesses or very few. And that led to underperformance and the opportunity for activists over time. And what activism has done, and I think we've helped lead this movement,

index funds with Vanguard and others. And that all these controlling shareholders would kind of gave their stock to society or their children and multiple generations. And there were no longer kind of controlling owners of businesses or very few. And that led to underperformance and the opportunity for activists over time. And what activism has done, and I think we've helped lead this movement,

is it restored kind of the balance of power between the owners of the business and the managements of the company. And that's been a very good thing for the performance of the U.S. stock market, actually.

is it restored kind of the balance of power between the owners of the business and the managements of the company. And that's been a very good thing for the performance of the U.S. stock market, actually.

is it restored kind of the balance of power between the owners of the business and the managements of the company. And that's been a very good thing for the performance of the U.S. stock market, actually.

Yes. So activists generally never own more than 5% or 10% of a business. So they don't have control. Right. So the way they get influence is they have to convince the other, you know, they have to get to sort of a majority of the other shareholders to support them. And if they can get that kind of support, they can behave almost like a controlling shareholder. And that's how it works.