Your Money

Bill Ackman should keep his opinions to himself and stick to investing

Ultra-competitive hedge fund founder has got himself enmeshed in the US’s culture wars

Bill Ackman is suing Business Insider after it accused his wife, former academic Neri Oxman, of plagiarism

Proinsias O'Mahony's face
Proinsias O'Mahony
Sun Jan 21 2024 - 07:00

Opinionated hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman is rarely out of the headlines these days. A prolific tweeter, Ackman has been doling out his expert opinions on a wide range of issues for some time – from vaccine safety to how to end the war in Ukraine.

Recent months have seen him wade deeper into the US’s culture wars, taking on top universities and their diversity programmes as well as the media (he says he is suing Business Insider after it accused his wife, former academic Neri Oxman, of plagiarism).

Ackman has long had a reputation for being both smart and pompous. Fellow hedge funders talked of his “Superman complex”, his “noblesse oblige”, and his tendency to be “pointlessly, needlessly competitive” in a famous Vanity Fair profile from 2013.

It seems he hasn’t changed. “This is the best and most important thing I have ever written”, he tweeted recently. “Don’t miss it.” His wife is “one of the most creative, brilliant and talented people in the world, and she has been recognised as such”.

READ MORE

Another tweet, borrowing from Russell Crowe in Gladiator, reads: “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” “And for investors who are concerned about my time management,” says Ackman, “I am posting while on the elliptical for better time management.”

Perhaps – but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t stick to investing.

Bill Ackman