Talk:Bill Ackman

message: I took out this line "The Fund had 40%+ returns over the past ______" 
the blank should not be on wiki page. 
if someone can fill in the blank, sure put it back, but until then it should not be here.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 132.216.86.52 (talk) 04:45, 12 November 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: I am reverting edits in the main article that originate from Gotham Partners as they are part of the subject of this article... Additionally, their edits are unproductive and are designed to remove content that is pertinent from the topic... The culprit(s) are at the IP address below...
 Note: Shortcut URL to this Demo for IP Address 1.2.3.4  is http://www.ip2location.com/1.2.3.4
IP Address 	Country 	Region 	City 	Latitude/
Longitude 	ZIP Code 	Time Zone 	 
66.151.197.5 	UNITED STATES 	NEW YORK 	NEW YORK 	40.7488
-73.9846 	10017 	-04:00 	
Net Speed 	ISP 	Domain
DSL 	GOTHAM PARTNERS 	-
IDD Code 	Area Code 	Weather Station
1 	212/646/718/917 	USNY0833 - LONG ISLAND CITY
Stevenmitchell (talk) 05:52, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Gotham Partners Is Actively Changing Some of the Content 

message: A tag has been placed on :William Ackman requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A1 & A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a very short article providing little or no context to the reader. Please see Wikipedia:Stub for our minimum information standards for short articles. 
If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding 
 to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the page does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that they  userfy the page or have a copy emailed to you.   You Talkin' to Me??? (talk) 20:16, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: removed twice, by different eds, including myself as reviewing administrator.    Considering the size of the business, he seems clearly notable-- and there are good sources. Er go by the sources. A claim that the business is not useful to society is irrelevant entirely.   I refer to your talk page, where it seems you have been editing from a non-neutral POV.    DGG ( talk ) 15:31, 10 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Speedy deletion of [[:William Ackman]]

message: Is Bill Ackman jewish?  His last name is scottish.  I noticed he is involved in the jewish community.  Did he convert or did his family change their name?  More curious than anything as my last name is close to his and am trying to trace it.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.250.126.246 (talk) 18:47, 3 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Question 

message: I just now moved some information from "personal life" which treated solely the subjects activities in the philanthropic sector, and in so doing indeed expanded the size of that section on this page. After reviewing it I am of the opinion that it is unnecessarily long and that much of the specific information can be summarized. Some of the donations are notable, given their coverage in mainstream outlets, but many of them are not particularly notable as evidenced by the sources provided (PRnewswire, various other non-independent sources, etc.), so I don't think it should be an issue. I am just announcing my intentions here in case such a change should cause any distress or arouse disagreement among any other active editors of this page. TheSoundAndTheFury (talk) 23:50, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I've kept the grant sourced to PRnewswire but condensed the Philanthropy section by removing promotional tone and unnecessary descriptions. Meatsgains (talk) 04:30, 16 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shortening philanthropy section 

message: This is a one-sided title and section and not representative of the news that comes out every day. It should be more like Herbalife or Hebalife Short or Position and show the opposing views from reliable sources. --OnceaMetro (talk) 15:57, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Little late to your post but I went ahead and neutralized the heading to "Herbalife short" for neutrality. Meatsgains (talk) 04:22, 16 April 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  I see this is an older discussion, but since you seem willing to address neutrality issues, I wonder if you might be able to take a look at my requests at the bottom of this Talk page to address neutrality problems with the same Herbalife section. I'm struggling to get editor review even using the COI edit request queue. Thanks for your consideration. FMatPSCM (talk) 13:59, 25 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Herbalife criticism section 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Bill Ackman was mentioned in the Dilbert comic on September 6, 2014 - http://dilbert.com/strip/2014-09-06
Is this worth adding to the article?  If so, where?  GoingBatty (talk) 12:26, 5 September 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: No. It's a passing pop culture reference. See WP:IPCEXAMPLES. --Animalparty! (talk) 21:01, 27 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dilbert 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
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Participate in the deletion discussion at the . —Community Tech bot (talk) 05:08, 27 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion 

message: His amount of credit protections against his bets against the markets are unknown.
The premiums paid and comission costs amounted $27 million. Not the credit protections!!! TobiOne007 (talk) 15:35, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  COVID-19 hedge 

message: I work for Rubenstein and on behalf of Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Capital Management, I would like to flag that the citation used in the intro paragraph does not support this sentence:
:Ackman is considered by some to be a contrarian investor but considers himself an activist investor.
 
The Reuters article makes no mention of contrarian investing or the kind of investor Ackman considers himself.
 
The investment style section of this page notes:
Research published at the University of Oxford characterizes Ackman's activities with Canadian Pacific Railway as paradigmatic of "engaged activism," which is longer-term in nature with correlated benefits to the real economy, and distinct from shorter-term "financial activism.” ("A common misconception, that all shareholder activists are focused on short-term returns, is rooted in an antiquated phase in US capital markets history – particularly, the highly opportunistic transactions of 1980's 'corporate raiders'. In recent years, however, shareholder activism has noticeably shifted towards longer-term value creation".)
 
I am requesting a rewording of the intro paragraph sentence to say:
:Ackman is considered an engaged activist investor, which is long-term in nature.
NinaSpezz (talk) 23:02, 5 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: That seems fair. –MJL ‐Talk‐☖ 21:22, 24 February 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Investing Style 

message: I work for Rubenstein and on behalf of Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Capital Management, I would like to flag that a sentence in the second paragraph of the Pershing Square Capital Management section is unsourced. I am requesting the removal of the unsourced content in that paragraph:
 
:In December 2007, his funds owned a 10% stake in Target Corporation, valued at $4.2 billion through the purchase of stock and derivatives. 
NinaSpezz (talk) 14:24, 26 February 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: , I have found this reference and added it: https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/12/06/ackman-offers-to-finance-a-borders-bid-for-barnes-noble/ Caius G. (talk) 22:09, 12 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Borders Group/Barnes & Noble - unsourced 

message: I work for Rubenstein and on behalf of Bill Ackman and Pershing Square Capital Management, I would like to request the removal of the following paragraph within the Herbalife short section as it is incorrect, poorly sourced, and irrelevant to the subject of this page:
 
:At an investor conference in January 2013, the company released results of a Nielsen Research International survey showing 73% of Herbalife distributors never intended to make money by reselling the product. Instead, they wanted to buy products at a discount for personal use. To make the distinction clearer, the company announced on its June 2013 earnings call that it would begin referring to these discount buyers as "members" rather than "distributors." 
 
The survey referenced was conducted by Lieberman Research Worldwide, not Nielsen Research International.
 
The sources used - Herbalife's Investor Day Presentation and the transcript of the Herbalife Q2 2013 earnings conference call - are primary sources and neither mention Bill Ackman.
 
In addition, the claims made in this paragraph were refuted by a complaint filed by the FTC in 2016, which alleged:
 
:15. Individuals who participate in Defendants’ business opportunity are called “Distributors” (also referred to herein as “participants”). In 2013, Defendants began calling participants “Members” rather than “Distributors.” The change in terminology, however, was not accompanied by any substantive change to the nature of the business opportunity available to Herbalife participants.
 
:98. Since 2013 Defendants have publicly claimed or implied that a mere 27% of their Distributors are pursuing the business opportunity either full-time or part-time, and that a “substantial majority” (73%) are simply interested in buying Herbalife products for their own personal consumption.
 
:99. Defendants’ express or implied claim that a “substantial majority” of their Distributors are not pursuing the business opportunity is based not on Distributor behavior, but on surveys commissioned by Defendants beginning in July 2012 that are flawed and unreliable. For example, many survey participants who were included in the category of Distributors who purportedly “joined Herbalife primarily as discount customers” themselves reported that they quit Herbalife because “finding new customers was too difficult and/or time consuming,” or the “business was harder than [they] originally believed.”
NinaSpezz (talk) 17:33, 16 March 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: the reasoning provided by you for the removal of the segment is not enough compelling. Plus the sources seem fine and adequately describe what is written in the article right now. Chirota (talk) 22:54, 1 May 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  You were helpful in implementing a requested edit I made earlier this year. Hoping you might be able to weigh in on my latest request, above. NinaSpezz (talk) 15:43, 21 May 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Herbalife Short 

message: Hello! Francis here, representing Pershing Square Capital Management. I've registered an account here to propose article improvements, starting with the Bill Ackman biography. Given my conflict of interest, I'll be offering suggestions on discussion pages instead of editing directly. Previously, NinaSpezz from Rubenstein submitted a few requests on PSCM's behalf, as seen above. Thanks for being patient as I familiarize myself with Wikipedia!
To start, I'd like to propose changing $3 billion to $4 billion in the Pershing Square Tontine Holdings section, per MarketWatch. This article, titled "Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Tontine raises $4 billion as IPO prices at $20 a share", says: "Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd. PSTH.U, , a special purpose acquisition (SPAC), or blank check company, formed by billionaire investor Bill Ackman, raised $4 billion as its initial public offering of 200 million shares priced at $20 a share." Could someone please update the article's text on my behalf? Thank you! FMatPSCM (talk) 19:00, 10 May 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Ptrnext (talk) 19:40, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Correction re: Pershing Square Tontine Holdings 

message: I'd like to suggest another improvement to this Wikipedia article. Currently, the first sentence of the "Early life and education" section says Ackman is "the son of Ronnie I. (née Posner) and Lawrence David Ackman, the chairman of a New York real estate financing firm, Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group."
Lawrence Ackman is currently Chairman Emeritus of Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group, per Pershing Square Foundation and Harvard Business School.
I suggest changing the text to either "... Lawrence David Ackman, the chairman emeritus of a New York real estate financing firm" OR "... Lawrence David Ackman, the former chairman and current chairman emeritus of a New York real estate financing firm".
I'm just trying to make the text more accurate and I'll let editors decide what's best. Thanks! FMatPSCM (talk) 21:37, 16 May 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Ptrnext (talk) 19:40, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Title update 

message: I have another request for the Wikipedia article. Currently, the Philanthropy section says, "Ackman endorsed Michael Bloomberg as a prospective candidate for President of the United States in the 2016 presidential election. He is a longtime donor to Democratic candidates and organizations, including Richard Blumenthal, Chuck Schumer, Robert Menendez, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee."
I suggest moving this text from the Philanthropy section to the Personal life section. I don't believe political endorsements and contributions are considered philanthropy. Thank you! FMatPSCM (talk) 17:27, 2 June 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Ptrnext (talk) 19:40, 3 June 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Politics 

message: I am back with a request for the Pershing Square Capital Management section. I've identified two pieces of text which are duplicated at Pershing Square Capital Management and do not seem necessary in a personal biography about Bill Ackman:
 
1. I suggest removing the following text: 
: Reason for removal: This text is about PSCM, not Bill Ackman specifically. Additionally, Pershing Square Capital Management already says, "In 2005, Pershing bought a significant share in fast food chain Wendy's International and successfully pressured them to sell off its Tim Horton's donut chain. Wendy's spun off the Canadian restaurant donut chain through an IPO in 2006 and raised $670 million for Wendy's investors. After Ackman sold his shares at a substantial profit after a dispute over executive succession, the stock price collapsed, raising criticism the sale of Wendy's fastest growing unit left the company in a weaker market position. Ackman blamed the poor performance on their new CEO."
 
2. I also suggest removing the following text: 
: Reason for removal: This text is about PSCM, not Bill Ackman specifically. Additionally, Pershing Square Capital Management already says, "In December 2007, his funds owned a 10% stake in Target Corporation, valued at $4.2 billion through the purchase of stock and derivatives. His funds now own a 7.8% stake. In December 2010, his funds held a 38% stake in Borders Group and on December 6, 2010, Ackman indicated he would finance a buyout of Barnes & Noble for US$900M."
 
I'm hoping User:Ptrnext or other editors will agree to trim or remove this duplicate text, which is more about PSCM than Ackman.
 
Thanks for continued help and consideration, FMatPSCM (talk) 20:39, 13 July 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: Done  Bowler the Carmine | talk 10:39, 22 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Request to remove duplicate text 

message: Hi again! I'd like to flag some issues with the current "Pershing Square Capitol Management" section. Three concerns for editors to consider:
 
1. The section says: ""
* Issues: The subject's comment at a panel discussion about someone else seems unnecessary in a biography. The text is in a section dedicated to PSCM, but not related to the company. Also, the text is partially unsourced and more about Merkin than Ackman. I propose removing.
 Unrelated to Pershing Square Management.   Duke Gilmore (talk) 11:53, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: @FMatPSCM  Partially implemented as noted above.  Request closed.  Cheers. Duke Gilmore (talk) 11:53, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requests for PSCM section 

message: Though I'm still waiting for feedback on a couple requests above, I'd like to flag an issue with the "Herbalife short" section. The article says:
*
 
The primary sources used as inline citations were published by Herbalife. The study was published by Lieberman Research, not Nielsen Research, so the text is not even factually accurate. Additionally, the FTC has disproved these claims. From the complaint: 
 
:"Since 2013 Defendants have publicly claimed or implied that a mere 27% of their Distributors are pursuing the business opportunity either full-time or part-time, and that a “substantial majority” (73%) are simply interested in buying Herbalife products for their own personal consumption. 99. Defendants’ express or implied claim that a “substantial majority” of their Distributors are not pursuing the business opportunity is based not on Distributor behavior, but on surveys commissioned by Defendants beginning in July 2012 that are flawed and unreliable"
 
I propose removing this text for the multiple reasons I've shared. I have some other concerns about this section but I will submit separate requests with more info for editors to consider. Thanks for reviewing. FMatPSCM (talk) 22:17, 6 September 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Request to remove Herbalife sources from Herbalife section 

message: Hello, again! While I'm having a difficult time getting editors to review the suggested article improvements, I'd like to continue identifying issues with the "Herbalife short" section. In general, I think this section is too long and overly detailed for a personal biography. Perhaps some of the text should be trimmed or moved over to the PSCM entry, but for now I will share two specific concerns:
 
* I take issue with the text "". The U.S. News & World Report citation is clearly marked as an opinion piece and TheStreet says, "Ackman told Bloomberg TV he's spent $50 million of Pershing's limited partners' capital to research and publicize the fund's negative views on Herbalife." I propose replacing this text with something more neutral such as "" or "". Can an editor please update the text appropriately?
:::: Deleted qualitative phrase and removed citation to opinion piece.  Duke Gilmore (talk) 12:50, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
replies: text:  Agreed.  Duke Gilmore (talk) 12:50, 14 December 2022 (UTC)

text: Thank you for the outreach. I do not plan to re-engage on this particular article, so will leave it up to other editors on whether these suggested edits should be made to the article. Go4thProsper (talk) 22:51, 19 September 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: @FMatPSCM  Implemented edits as noted above.  Cheers. Duke Gilmore (talk) 12:50, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  More issues with the Herbalife section 

message: While I'm waiting for other requests to be reviewed, I'd like to submit another to address issues with the "COVID-19 response"  and  "Investment style" sections.  I'd like to put this request on your radar since you added citations to the "Investment style" section back in July.
 
1. The COVID-19 section says, ""
** This text is unrelated to PSCM and misrepresentative of sourcing. Business Insider says the quote about Trump was "on the president's corporate tax reforms and efforts to bring manufacturing back to the US". This may be "qualified praise for Trump's presidency", but the current text implies the subject supports Trump with no other context. Can this text be removed or rewritten to be more representative of the source?
  The citation includes an assessment of Trump's performance, but is general and not specific to Covid.  Duke Gilmore (talk) 13:10, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
replies: text: @FMatPSCM See comments above.  Request closed.  Cheers.  Duke Gilmore (talk) 13:10, 14 December 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Requests re: COVID-19 response and Investment style 

message: I would like to submit another request, this time for the "COVID-19 response" section. Currently the paragraph starts with "Ahead of the 2020 stock market crash, Ackman hedged Pershing Square's portfolio, risking $27 million to purchase credit protection, insuring the portfolio against steep market losses." In order to make this section more accurate and neutral, I suggest adding the following as second and third sentences, per Reuters:
 
* 
 
 
Then, the paragraph can continue with "The hedge was effective..."
 
Thanks in advance for reviewing this request and updating the article appropriately on my behalf. FMatPSCM (talk) 14:00, 25 October 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  COVID-19 response 

message: The article is currently overstates Bill Ackman's influence, with no section covering the sponsorship of the infamous Valeant Pharmaceuticals either. In addition, a large number of sources link back to statements by Bill Ackman, and yet are stated as objective facts. It is imperative to convey a more neutral tone urgently. MaleficentChimera (talk) 12:23, 30 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Request to re-write the article in a more neutral tone 

message: Hello. Recently an unregistered editor changed "activist investor" to "activist shortseller" and added some additional inappropriate text to the article. User:Zhanzhao removed the "hitjob" language, but some of the problematic text remains. I request restoration of this version of the article from January 22, 2023, before these recent changes. Can Zhanzhao or another editor please take another look? I won't make changes to the page myself given my conflict of interest. Thank you, FMatPSCM (talk) 21:03, 31 January 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Recent edits 

message: Hello again. Recently an editor changed the number of children from 4 to 3. This is not correct. As the "Personal life" section explains, Bill Ackman has three children from his first marriage and one from his second. Can someone please correct this in the infobox?
 
Thank you, FMatPSCM (talk) 14:18, 8 May 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Ptrnext (talk) 06:02, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Number of children 

message: Seriously, is his call for a witchhunt of those that support the Palestinian struggle against the Israel's occupation forces just personal views? Maybe that'd be the case if a Ackman wasn't a powerful billionaire. 79.167.178.82 (talk) 10:03, 6 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Personal views?  

message: the tweet was not his Mafron11 (talk) 12:31, 7 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Note 88 is misleading 

message: The first paragraph of Personal views reads "In 2021, Ackman supported Kyle Rittenhouse's self-defense claim while the criminal trial was ongoing. Ackman's prediction of an acquittal proved to be accurate." This is confusing, because the first sentence only mentions Ackman's support of Rittenhouse, while the second sentence presumes the reader knows that Ackman predicted Rittenhouse's acquittal. I don't believe that supporting a defendant necessarily implies a prediction that the defendant wins. This could be rewritten as "In 2021, Ackman supported Kyle Rittenhouse's self-defense claim while the criminal trial was ongoing and predicted that Rittenhouse would win his case, which later proved to be accurate." 98.118.9.141 (talk) 19:48, 10 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: The source doesn't say it "proved to be accurate" so neither the current form nor the suggestion is good. I will update it to accurately WP:STICKTOSOURCE. Zenomonoz (talk) 22:10, 11 January 2024 (UTC)

text: Honestly, not sure it's really relevant or due. He gave his opinion on one of the top news stories at the time. WP:NOTNEWS. It was covered at the time, but not enduring, like his involvement post the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Per WP:BRD, will remove. Longhornsg (talk) 22:29, 11 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rittenhouse acquital prediction 

message: I'm not an extended confirmed editor, so posting here. I think the page should mention his accusations of plagiarism and his recent responses to accusations of plagiarism against his wife. 
Edit: I believe that this topic should be included since he has become notable recently (but seems to be WP:SUSTAINED) due to his ongoing accusations (e.g., Vox article title "Who is Bill Ackman and why is he so mad?"). too_much curiosity (talk) 04:05, 15 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ongoing plagiarism fiasco 

message: Hello again. In January, the infobox image was changed from :File:Valeant Pharmaceuticals' Business Model (26410186110) (cropped 2).jpg to :File:Valeant Pharmaceuticals' Business Model (cropped).jpg. I would like to request a revert to the previously used image, which I believe is more neutral and does not give an unfair impression as the new photo does. Do other editors agree that a headshot might be preferable here? Thanks, FMatPSCM (talk) 23:43, 2 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Infobox image