Story
Bought a $5M dollar of stock for 65 cents, then $57K lunch with Ackman
Andrew Wilkinson bought into Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Holdings because its blue-chip stock portfolio (Lowe's, Chipotle, Howard Hughes) traded at 65 cents on the dollar. He then spent $57,000 on a charity lunch to 'grill' Ackman as due diligence; the stock later tripled and they ended up doing deals together.
“And for every dollar of stock that was sitting in the holding company, you could buy it for 65 cents because the stock had traded down so much. So it was like buying a dollar for 65 cents. So I didn't necessarily think Bill was a genius. I thought he was a very smart investor. I just thought it was a very cheap stock, and so I bought it. And then when I saw this charity lunch come up, I was like, "Oh, sweet. I can grill this guy and see if I like him."”
Number
Ackman turned a $25M bet into $2.7B
Andrew Wilkinson notes that Bill Ackman invested $25 million in a hedge that turned into $2.7 billion, inside the very Pershing Square holding company Wilkinson is an investor in.
$2700M
Payout from Ackman's hedge bet · USD
“he had a bet where he invested $25 million and it turned into $2.7 billion. And that was in that holding company that I'm an investor in.”
Fact
A SPAC is a unicorn mating dance
Shaan explains Ackman's framing of a SPAC: a public shell that already holds $5B in the bank looking for one elite private company to merge with and take public. The acquisition itself signals to the market, like Sequoia investing, that this is the company to buy.
“And what he says, he goes, it's like a unicorn mating dance. He goes, we're a unicorn because we raised $5 billion. We have that money in our bank. And we're just looking for a unicorn to mate with, a private company who is really special, really defensible, has awesome revenues, long-term, but everything you would want in a company”
Fact
A SPAC is a unicorn mating dance
Shaan explains Ackman's framing of a SPAC: a public shell that already holds $5B in the bank looking for one elite private company to merge with and take public. The acquisition itself signals to the market, like Sequoia investing, that this is the company to buy.
“And what he says, he goes, it's like a unicorn mating dance. He goes, we're a unicorn because we raised $5 billion. We have that money in our bank. And we're just looking for a unicorn to mate with, a private company who is really special, really defensible, has awesome revenues, long-term, but everything you would want in a company”