Bill Ackman, deep into a conversation about how he gives his money away, briefly addressed his large losses on Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
“The biggest investment failure of my career happened in the last 18 months or so,” he said. “I blame part of that on not managing my time effectively.”
Ackman, speaking at a June 5 dinner in Manhattan for the nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs he funds, made clear it’s not his philanthropic efforts that distracted him.
“You pick amazing people, you don’t have to worry, you can trust them,” Ackman said of Pershing Square Foundation’s staff and grantees, drawing an analogy with Warren Buffett managing Berkshire Hathaway with a head office of only 25 people.
And his role? “I need to make money,” Ackman said in an interview later in the evening. “I used to take it for granted, now I’m very focused.”
That focus suits the foundation, started two years after Ackman founded Pershing Square Capital Management. As his business grew, so did grants and investments in education, health care, social justice and the arts.
10th Anniversary
Commitments have risen and fallen with his funds’ performance, but the foundation has pledged a total of about $400 million since inception and generated plenty of success stories that were shared at the group’s 10th anniversary celebration.
Frederick Wiseman thanked Ackman for supporting his documentaries like the one on the New York Public Library scheduled for release in September. DonorsChoose founder Charles Best said Ackman’s assistance helped the organization become self-sustaining.
Kimarley Garrick, an undocumented immigrant from Jamaica, said he would not have been able to go to college without Ackman’s support of scholarships through TheDream.US.