Boring Is Key

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We admit to having a serious soft spot for Bill Ackman and Pershing Square. For one, you have to love the hedge fund manager that actually sits down with Charlie Rose for an hour (or more). Plus, well, it's Bill Ackman! So you can imagine our relief when we learned that Pershing Square had mostly dodged the bullet in 2008 and emerged down just 11.8% net of fees, including a totally flat (0.0% gross -0.2% net) return in December. Phew!
Oddly, they don't report much of a short portfolio (6% overall). But who knows when that snapshot was taken and their hedged-sounding returns might have something to do with the $1.6 billion in credit default swaps that they've been holding.
Anyhow, we love you Bill! Call us, 'kay? We'd love to hear about your strategies and maybe we could make an EP-BA-BL sandwich after? No promises.