The Billionaire Who Just Wants to Be Loved

Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman had a very good year last year. In fact, he ran the single best-performing hedge fund of 2014. He made a lot of money. Why is he such a crybaby?
America Rewards the Deserving
The business world is giddy and agog at the rip-roaring return of mergers and acquisitions. M&A is back! Just yesterday, two mega-deals worth $100 billion were announced. Some people are getting very, very rich. The deserving people, that is.
Katie Lee Lists; Ackman and Whoopi Sell
• Katie Lee, the cookbook author and ex-wife of Billy Joel, is reportedly putting the 4,000-square-foot townhouse at 23 Perry Street that she and Joel once shared—and which she bought from Joel for $3 million after their split last year—on the market. The four-bedroom manse is set to be listed with Dolly Lenz for…
Tory Burch Lists Southampton Spread
• Just four months after she won approval to tear down her Southampton home and build something bigger and better in its place, Tory Burch has put the Meadow Lane property on the market for $17.9 million. She has good reason to sell. In October, Burch went into contract to buy an even bigger property nearby for an…
Bill Ackman Has a Glass of Wine Waiting for You
If you're looking to pick up a tiny apartment—or you're interested in rubbing shoulders with one of the city's most prominent hedge funders—keep in mind that Bill Ackman will be personally auctioning off the 322-square-foot guest suite/maid's residence he owns at The Majestic tonight. The show kicks off at 8pm and…
Hartnett's Pad Sells; Newhouse Heir Buys
• The Soho loft that Josh Hartnett lived in until recently (and reportedly trashed before moving out) has a new owner. Music executives James Dowdall and Rose Noone sold the apartment at 237 Lafayette Street to banker Rory Keane for $2.030 million. [Cityfile]
• Samuel I. Newhouse IV, the grandson of Condé Nast chief …
Ackman Clears the Record
Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman lost his high-profile proxy contest with Target last week, a defeat that reportedly led him to shed a tear or two when he spoke at the company's annual shareholders meeting. It was Ackman's decision to invoke the words of John F. Kennedy, though, that really ticked off New York Times…
Wall Street: Friday Morning
• It looks like General Motors will file for bankruptcy on Monday. [WSJ]
• Bill Ackman, the activist investor who's been taking aim at Target for months now, lost his battle to remake the company's board yesterday. [Fortune]
• A group of banks and money managers are now trying to "fend off" some of the new trading…
Wall Street: Monday Morning
• The market has been up big the last few weeks. But the ride may be over. "The market has gone too far, too fast," as one fund manager puts it. [BN]
• Following the stress tests last week, a number of banks have been busy de-stressing: Both Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo raised billions late last week to satisfy new…
Marisa Noel Brown Takes a Hit on East 78th
• Marisa Noel Brown, the daughter of disgraced Fairfield Greenwich Group founder Walter Noel, and her husband Matt, are officially putting their townhouse at 12 East 78th Street on the market. The Indiana limestone–faced manse, which the couple bought for $13.5 million in 2008 and then spent millions renovating,…
Wall Street: Friday Morning
• Citigroup posted its first profit in 18 months today, which made Wall Street very happy and sent Citi shares up to a whopping $4. [WSJ, DB]
• GE's first-quarter profit fell less than expected, dropping 35% compared to a year earlier, results that gave shares a boost in early trading. [BN, WSJ]
• AIG chief Ed Liddy…
Merrill's Money Men
• Merrill Lynch's top 10 earners in 2008—a list that Andrew Cuomo will be interested to take a look at—is out. Each made more than $10 million in cash and stock in 2008 as the bank racked up losses of $27.6 billion. [WSJ]
• The private sector lost nearly 700,000 jobs in February. [CNN]
• A UBS exec will address the…
Washington's New Bailout, UBS Stays in the Game
• Details about the Obama administration's plan to revise the bailout are still sketchy, but more will be revealed by Tim Geithner tomorrow. [WSJ, BN, DB]
• UBS is slashing bonuses by 80 percent, but the bank says it does not have plans to get out of investment banking altogether. [BN]
• Barclays announced that…
Arki Speaks, Madoff Still Hoping to Avoid Jail
• "There's only so much due diligence you can do," hedge fund manager Arki Busson explained to Bloomberg News when asked how he managed to get suckered by Bernie Madoff. This is especially true when you spend most of your time chasing models and actresses. [BN]
• Bernie Madoff's lawyer says his client will agree to…
Rate Cut, Bad Loans On the Rise
♦ The Fed is expected to cut interest rates again today, possibly to as low as 1 percent. [WSJ]
♦ The White House is pushing banks to stop hoarding the bailout billions and start making more loans. [AP]
♦ George Soros says the number of hedge funds "will be reduced in size by anywhere between half and two thirds"…
Street Talk: Off to the House
♦ Now comes the hard part. After winning the vote in the Senate last night, the bailout bill will head to the House for a Friday vote. [NYT, WSJ]
♦ John Thain will be staying put at Bank of America, contrary to initial rumors. He'll become the combined company's president of global banking, securities and wealth…
