Bill Ackman

But if you've got a couple hundred of those, you find yourself on a plane to the Middle East, to Asia, flying around the country. This is pre-Zoom. And that takes you away from the investment process. You have to delegate more. That was a contributor to the Valiant mistake. So now we lose a ton of money on Valiant. My ex-wife and I were talking about separating, getting divorced.

But if you've got a couple hundred of those, you find yourself on a plane to the Middle East, to Asia, flying around the country. This is pre-Zoom. And that takes you away from the investment process. You have to delegate more. That was a contributor to the Valiant mistake. So now we lose a ton of money on Valiant. My ex-wife and I were talking about separating, getting divorced.

I put that on hold because I didn't want to make a decision in the middle of this crisis. And things just kept getting worse. We were also sued. When you lose a lot of money, we didn't get sued by our investors, but we got sued by a shareholder because when the stock price goes down, shareholders sue. We'd done nothing wrong other than make a big mistake. So you have litigation.

I put that on hold because I didn't want to make a decision in the middle of this crisis. And things just kept getting worse. We were also sued. When you lose a lot of money, we didn't get sued by our investors, but we got sued by a shareholder because when the stock price goes down, shareholders sue. We'd done nothing wrong other than make a big mistake. So you have litigation.

I put that on hold because I didn't want to make a decision in the middle of this crisis. And things just kept getting worse. We were also sued. When you lose a lot of money, we didn't get sued by our investors, but we got sued by a shareholder because when the stock price goes down, shareholders sue. We'd done nothing wrong other than make a big mistake. So you have litigation.

Your investors are taking their money out. Um, I'm in the middle of a divorce. Uh, the divorce starts to proceed. Uh, my, my ex-wife's lawyer's expectations of what my net worth was about three times what it actually was. And it was going lower in the middle of this.

Your investors are taking their money out. Um, I'm in the middle of a divorce. Uh, the divorce starts to proceed. Uh, my, my ex-wife's lawyer's expectations of what my net worth was about three times what it actually was. And it was going lower in the middle of this.

Your investors are taking their money out. Um, I'm in the middle of a divorce. Uh, the divorce starts to proceed. Uh, my, my ex-wife's lawyer's expectations of what my net worth was about three times what it actually was. And it was going lower in the middle of this.

And I remember the lawyers saying, look, Bill, you know, we've estimated your net worth at X, but don't worry, we only want a third. But X was 3X, so a third was 100%. And then we had litigation, and actually never before publicly disclosed, and I'll share it with you now. We had a public company that owned about a third of our portfolio that was called our version of Berkshire Hathaway.

And I remember the lawyers saying, look, Bill, you know, we've estimated your net worth at X, but don't worry, we only want a third. But X was 3X, so a third was 100%. And then we had litigation, and actually never before publicly disclosed, and I'll share it with you now. We had a public company that owned about a third of our portfolio that was called our version of Berkshire Hathaway.

And I remember the lawyers saying, look, Bill, you know, we've estimated your net worth at X, but don't worry, we only want a third. But X was 3X, so a third was 100%. And then we had litigation, and actually never before publicly disclosed, and I'll share it with you now. We had a public company that owned about a third of our portfolio that was called our version of Berkshire Hathaway.

I tried to learn from Mr. Buffett over time, and it was, so to speak, permanent capital. The problem with hedge funds is people can take their money out every quarter. What Buffett has is a company where people want to take their money out, they sell the stock, but the money stays. So we set up a similar structure in October of 2014. And then a year later, Valiant happens.

I tried to learn from Mr. Buffett over time, and it was, so to speak, permanent capital. The problem with hedge funds is people can take their money out every quarter. What Buffett has is a company where people want to take their money out, they sell the stock, but the money stays. So we set up a similar structure in October of 2014. And then a year later, Valiant happens.

I tried to learn from Mr. Buffett over time, and it was, so to speak, permanent capital. The problem with hedge funds is people can take their money out every quarter. What Buffett has is a company where people want to take their money out, they sell the stock, but the money stays. So we set up a similar structure in October of 2014. And then a year later, Valiant happens.

And then a year later, we're in the middle of the mess. And we're still in the mess. By mid-2017, we've got litigation underway. And another activist investor... A firm called Elliott Associates, which is run by a guy named Paul Singer, took a big position in our public company that was the bulk of our capital. And they shorted all the stocks that we owned.

And then a year later, we're in the middle of the mess. And we're still in the mess. By mid-2017, we've got litigation underway. And another activist investor... A firm called Elliott Associates, which is run by a guy named Paul Singer, took a big position in our public company that was the bulk of our capital. And they shorted all the stocks that we owned.

And then a year later, we're in the middle of the mess. And we're still in the mess. By mid-2017, we've got litigation underway. And another activist investor... A firm called Elliott Associates, which is run by a guy named Paul Singer, took a big position in our public company that was the bulk of our capital. And they shorted all the stocks that we owned.

And they went long the short, probably went long the short that we were short. And they were making a bet that we'd be forced to liquidate. And then they would make money on, you know, our public company was trading at a discount to what all the securities were worth. So they bought the public company. They shorted the securities.

And they went long the short, probably went long the short that we were short. And they were making a bet that we'd be forced to liquidate. And then they would make money on, you know, our public company was trading at a discount to what all the securities were worth. So they bought the public company. They shorted the securities.

And they went long the short, probably went long the short that we were short. And they were making a bet that we'd be forced to liquidate. And then they would make money on, you know, our public company was trading at a discount to what all the securities were worth. So they bought the public company. They shorted the securities.