A Conversation With Bill Ackman

Stephen Fraidin is a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP. This post is based on a conversation between Mr. Fraidin and Mr. William Ackman, Founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, in a keynote session at the Cadwalader Fifth Annual Finance Forum. Their discussion covered the current state of the financial markets, the resurgence of SPACs, and more.

STEPHEN FRAIDIN (SF): It's always a pleasure to have an opportunity to have a conversation with Bill Ackman. Bill, I'd like to start with a personal question: at what point in your life did you realize or decide that what you wanted to do was become a professional investor?

BILL ACKMAN (BA): Actually when I went to work for my dad after college. He ran a firm that arranged financing for real estate developers and owners. It's a service business, and after being in that business for six months or a year, it seemed like the real estate developer investors were having more fun than the service