Pershing Square Target Fund Loses 40%!

[Parsad]

Bill Ackman's 2-1 levered fund that invests specifically in Target has lost virtually all the capital it raised in 2007 after being down 40% in January.  He has said he will commit $25M of his own money to the fund.  Yikes!  Cheers!

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0647717420090206?rpc=44

[dual_bid]

Boaz Weinstein, a Deutsche-Bank-chess-and-poker-master-top-trader-extraordinaire left after losing $1.8B, in return for $40M in annual pay.

 

He still has his fans. "If he made a mistake he'll learn a ton from it," said William Ackman, manager of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP.

 

1.8B Tuition... (plus 40M annually)... I'll personally buy that anytime.

[EdWatchesBoxing]

Boaz Weinstein, a Deutsche-Bank-chess-and-poker-master-top-trader-extraordinaire left after losing $1.8B, in return for $40M in annual pay.

 

He still has his fans. "If he made a mistake he'll learn a ton from it," said William Ackman, manager of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management LP.

 

1.8B Tuition... (plus 40M annually)... I'll personally buy that anytime.

 

Very interesting article. I like the references to poker and gambling. I think the problem with their GM trade was that they were not, in poker terms, considering their bankroll management. I wonder if there are poker players that are value investors. The best example I read about was when Charlie Munger was playing poker during WW2. I also find it interesting that he studied horse racing and found that betting could also be mispriced.

 

In poker, the best players don't necessarily have the best playing skills, they can usually play their "A" game for really long times and know how to play within their limits. I think these skills also apply to investing, they're just described differently.