More Videos
- GM Removes CEO Henderson; Whitacre is Interim Chief
- Who Were the Biggest Winners And Losers This Year?
- Look Ahead: Markets Count Down to US Jobs Report
- GE, Comcast Complete Deal Over NBC Universal: Source
- US May Raise Rates Before Jobs Recover: Fed's Plosser
- Cramer: Watch Tech Stocks Wednesday
- Stocks Likely Don't Need Santa to Keep Rally Going
- Super Fantasy Christmas Gifts of 2009
- Larry Kudlow's Open Letter to Tiger Woods
- Unemployment to Peak at 10.5%: Moody's Economist
- 8 Stocks to Gain on Obama's Afghan Plan: Analysts
- BofA On Proposed Changes In The Housing Bailout Program
- The Future of The Media Landscape
- November Auto Sales Muddle Along
- Busch: What Obama Won't Say Tonight
- Stick with Equities—Avoid Emerging Markets: Laszlo Birinyi
- Pfizer Chomps On A Carrot
- Predictions 2010: Technology
MOST SHARED
- GE, Comcast Complete Deal Over NBC Universal: Source
- Keeping America Great
- Kohlberg Kravis Bidding for Morgan Stanley's CICC Stake
- Predictions 2010: Technology
- Hyundai's US Auto Sales Jump 46% in November
- Toyota Takes Lead Position in Canada in November
- New Incentive To Improve... Your Home, That Is!
- Australia Parliament Rejects Carbon Trade Laws
Text Size 
Hedge fund manager William Ackman appeared on CNBC and reacted to the some of the top news stories this week, including the government's decision to takeover mortgage lenders Fannie Mae [FNM
Loading...
()
] and Freddie Mac [FRE
Loading...
()
] and Lehman Brothers Holdings' [LEH
Loading...
()
] decision to report its earnings results and strategic plans earlier than scheduled.
Lehman Is Different From Bear Stearns
"They're in a tough spot...we bought puts on Lehman almost as a market hedge than a bet against Lehman. If Lehman goes, I think it's bad for the markets generally....The Bear Stearns' restructuring and Fannie Mae bailout kind of shows that the country doesn't want to let big financial institutions fail in a way that's destructive from a systemic risk point of view....Right now, they're [Lehman] in the position of burning furniture to keep the house warm."
--William Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management, Managing Partner
On Paulson and the Bailout of Fannie and Freddie
"The first thing he did right was, he didn't rely on the gap financial statements of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine whether the institutions were solvent. The second thing he did right is, he didn't rely on even their regulators' estimation of whether they were solvent or not."
--William Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management, Managing Partner
_________________________________________
_____________________________________
Ackman On His Latest Bets
"I very rarely like to make stock recommendations, but...I'll point out an 'interesting opportunity: Long's Drugs [LDG
Loading...
()
]. Long's Drugs is trading at a nickel above a cash tender offer that CVS [CVS
Loading...
()
] is holding open to acquire the company. Under the terms of the deal, the tender offer has to remain open until August 2009, or they get a two-thirds tender from the people who own the stock. The company can continue to pay a 14-cent dividend so you are getting paid to wait."
--William Ackman, Pershing Square Capital Management, Managing Partner
Gross On GSE Takeover
"There are additional steps that are probably going to have to be taken. Almost all asset markets - stocks, real estate, commodities, corporate bonds - have a common theme: They're delevering, and having used that as the basis for marginal profitability over the past several decades, a cautionary, or in many cases, forced delevering moves asset prices down instead of up, and what has to take place now is, certainly, a recapitalization of the banking system. Banks are not in a position to sell lots of common stock, or to sell preferred stock. There may be another policy move required going forward."
--Bill Gross, PIMCO Founder & Chief Investment Officer
Print
Email
- Will the Fed raise rates? Will the dollar continue its slide? CNBC experts weigh in on the year ahead.
- Goldman Sachs has forbidden employees from gathering in private holiday parties of 12 or more.
- Do you have what it takes to run your own business? Ask yourself these questions.
- Heavily armed pirates in Somalia have set up a sort of stock exhange to fund their hijackings.
- Since its launch in 1998, Google has become a primary force on the Internet. How much do you know about the company?
- A famed author has written all his work on an old typewriter that is now up for auction. The NYT reports.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes