Canadian Railroads > Ackman: We want to be a Berkshire Hathaway

Bill Ackman, who heads CP's largest share holder, was on Bloomberg TV a few minutes ago. "We want to be a Berkshire Hathaway. Owning significant and influential shares of major companies. Guiding their strategies, and participating in their growth."

"When Warren Buffett bought the Buffalo News 25 years ago, he was seen as a liquidator. That newspaper is now among the healthier firms in the business. They're free of the quarter to demands which get in the way of long term results"


Video should be up later.

I think Ackman and his team of rogues( EHH as one) have a ways to go to duplicate Warren and his boys!

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON

algoma11 Wrote:
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> I think Ackman and his team of rogues( EHH as one)
> have a ways to go to duplicate Warren and his
> boys!

A little compassion for the employees would be a start.

Here comes the csx stock purchase announcement...

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> "We want
> to be a Berkshire Hathaway. Owning significant and
> influential shares of major companies.

From my understand, Mr Buffet goes for the long view .... Ackman goes for the next quarter ....

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

thehighwayman Wrote:
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> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > "We want
> > to be a Berkshire Hathaway. Owning significant
> and
> > influential shares of major companies.
>
> From my understand, Mr Buffet goes for the long
> view .... Ackman goes for the next quarter ....

That's a common perception but I don't think it's true.

Ackman claims his average duration in an active holding is five or six years. Certainly less than Buffett, but longer than many gut and go guys. Here's an article and link to his agreement with the argument that the rail industry's congestion is because there are too many companies and not enough cooperation.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/10/ackman-fannie-mae-freddie-mac-positions/

He's been in JC Penney, Amazon, Herbalife, Fannie, Freddie, American Air, for many years.

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Ackman claims his average duration in an active
> holding is five or six years. Certainly less than
> Buffett, but longer than many gut and go guys.
> Here's an article and link to his agreement with
> the argument that the rail industry's congestion
> is because there are too many companies and not
> enough cooperation.
>
>
>
> He's been in JC Penney, Amazon, Herbalife, Fannie,
> Freddie, American Air, for many years.

An interesting article (not well written/edited though).
I stand somewhat corrected.

Will MacKenzie
Dundas, ON

Lackawanna484 Wrote:

> He's been in JC Penney, Amazon, Herbalife, Fannie,
> Freddie, American Air, for many years.

That says a lot. JC Penney has had a lot of problems in recent years, and Amazon has yet to make a profit despite its gargantuan size. And, didn't Fannie and Freddie play a big role in nearly tanking the global economy? Yeah, the guy picks real winners.

radar Wrote:
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> Lackawanna484 Wrote:
>
> > He's been in JC Penney, Amazon, Herbalife,
> Fannie,
> > Freddie, American Air, for many years.
>
> That says a lot. JC Penney has had a lot of
> problems in recent years, and Amazon has yet to
> make a profit despite its gargantuan size. And,
> didn't Fannie and Freddie play a big role in
> nearly tanking the global economy? Yeah, the guy
> picks real winners.

He was up 27% last year, according to the article. That's not bad.

His Fannie/Freddie positions were put on after the stock tanked, and people left them for dead. That's turned into a good position, and maybe a spectacular position, depending on when he took some profits. Amazon has been a quadruple during the same period. That's a decent result in my book.

On Herbalife, he's been a short. That stock has been cut in half, which should put him in a good position.

I know a lot of guys like to beat on Ackman, but Pershing Square has a pretty good public results profile.

Contrary to your constant negative comments about EHH the fact remains CP's productivity percentage is down to 63% not 83% like it was under its former Canadian management team of which none came with a railway background. C P has never been in better shape, it's lean and mean like most well run companies are. You whiners obviously never felt CP was good enough to invest in before so now it's all B*tch and moan over its success. Get over it.

The NY Times has a generally positive article about Bill Ackman and Pershing Square. It mentions he is among a select group of large investors who are up this year (most are down) and has correctly judged the overall market during the past ten years. His losses are more than offset by large wins for his investors.

But, this sounds like a bell ringing at the top. The article notes that Mr Ackman and several friends have bought a 13,000 square foot apartment penthouse at the top of One Fifty Seven, arguably the most expensive piece of tower residential real estate in the world right about now. Ninety million bucks. He doesn't intend to live there, but expects to sell it in a few years or when somebody offers him a good price for it.

Whew!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/business/bill-ackman-and-his-hedge-fund-betting-big.html


(Articles like this are often the result of careful work by paid publicists and corporate communications people. But they are a good indication about what's going on in the boss's mind...)

I'm starting to track whether or not Bayview Boy ever has anything nice to say!

So for 0 for 19 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mike Bannon
St Catharines, ON