William Ackman not giving up on Target

Jim Kim — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:44:25 -0400

Activist investor William Ackman has a lot on the line with his investment in Target. The head of Pershing Square Capital Management was once one of the brightest activist hedge fund stars, but the credit crunch has not been kind to him. Pershing Square IV, launched early last year with $2 billion, was designed to go after a single firm. It bought up a 10 percent stake and a whole lot of calls on Target. But the stock moved against Ackman in a huge way. He's way underwater on the calls and the first batch expires in 6 months, according to Forbes; so, he's a man in hurry right now. He'll present a Target turnaround plan this week in New York in a desperate bid to revive his fund.

For more:
- here's the Forbes article

William Ackman's bet against MBIA: A winning move?

Wed, 14 May 2008 06:59:55 -0400

One of the most publicized of the bond insurance bears was William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management, who pressed his case in part with presentations given over the Internet. He received lots of press, and by some measures seems to be winning, especially when it comes to MBIA (which reported another loss and another writedown--this one for $3.6 billion). Before that, the company already had taken $3.7 billion on writedowns for last year. According to HedgeFund.net, Ackman expects the company to ultimately writedown $11 billion on structured credit products. At some point, you would think the shorts would bail. Indeed, the stock got a little goose Monday. Time for a big decision in general for a lot of shorts.

For more:
- here's the article