Bill Ackman: Investing, Financial Battles, Harvard, DEI, X & Free Speech | Lex Fridman Podcast #413

Bill Ackman is an investor who has led some of the biggest and controversial financial trades in history. He is founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - LMNT: https://drinkLMNT.com/lex to get free sample pack - Policygenius: https://policygenius.com/lex - AG1: https://drinkag1.com/lex to get 1 month supply of fish oil - Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/lex to get special savings - BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off TRANSCRIPT: https://lexfridman.com/bill-ackman-transcript EPISODE LINKS: Bill's X: https://twitter.com/BillAckman Pershing Square Holdings: https://pershingsquareholdings.com/ Pershing Square Foundation: https://pershingsquarefoundation.org Neri Oxman conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPHojL_61U Books mentioned: The Intelligent Investor: https://amzn.to/3ONnaZy America's Cultural Revolution: https://amzn.to/3SDz1dY PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ Full episodes playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOdP_8GztsuKi9nrraNbKKp4 Clips playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrAXtmErZgOeciFP3CBCIEElOJeitOr41 OUTLINE: 0:00 - Introduction 0:47 - Investing basics 5:39 - Investing in music 14:00 - Process of researching companies 18:39 - Investing in restaurants 24:08 - Investing in Google 29:50 - AI 35:05 - Warren Buffet 37:14 - Psychology of investing 46:45 - Activist investing 56:33 - General Growth Properties 1:12:49 - Canadian Pacific Railway 1:20:13 - OpenAI 1:24:24 - Biggest loss and lowest point 1:39:13 - Herbalife and Carl Icahn 1:56:03 - Oct 7 2:02:34 - College campus protests 2:21:01 - DEI in universities 2:41:52 - Neri Oxman 3:07:22 - X and free speech 3:11:46 - Trump 3:19:22 - Dean Phillips 3:26:28 - Future SOCIAL: - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman - Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/lexfridman - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman