E19: Bill Ackman

drew millard (0:38)

Hello, and welcome to Macho Pod. My name is Drew. And as always, I am joined by Yannick Maximum Returns LeJacq and Yuri.

What's in a name? They are powerful. They confer upon us mythical status. They determine who we are and what we do. What do I mean? If your name is Carl Lumber, you might be a carpenter. If your name is Sharon Pease, you might operate a non-profit farm co-op. And if your name is Bill Ackman, you might have a name that means billionaire activist man. So today's episode is about Bill Ackman, the funniest Twitter guy alive who also is allegedly an activist man investor who in recent years has turned his activist eye to such distressed properties as Harvard and the New York City mayoral election. So before we get into Bill and all his shit, I think that we should each take a moment to say what we would do if we had $9 billion, which is the number of dollars that Bill Ackman has.

Yuri Rybak (2:11)

I think I would start by saying I would never post on the website known as X ever again, and take a lot of pleasure in locking off and just not being a known public figure. That would feel really good. Not that I am a known public figure, but I would not aspire to that level of recognition.

drew millard (2:36)

Well, you're never going to be Bill Ackman level famous with that attitude.

Yuri Rybak (2:42)

That's the goal. That's the journey I'm on. Never be Bill Ackman level famous.

drew millard (2:46)

Fair. Yannick, what would your $9 billion dollars money spending situation be?

Yannick LeJacq (2:59)

Well, first can I say, and this is actually related to my answer, that I have to push back on saying he's the funniest man on Twitter because the funniest man on Twitter is Elon Musk.

drew millard (3:10)

That is true.

Yannick LeJacq (3:12)

That is kind of offensive that you would suggest anybody else is funnier than him.

drew millard (3:17)

I apologize.

Yannick LeJacq (3:19)

No, I mean, if I had like $9.4 billion dollars or whatever he's worth, I think I would invest most, if not all of it, let's just say all into building the most comprehensive and elite gaming rig ever known to man, and then assembling a equally elite team of high-tier coaches slash trainers to turn me into the ultimate gamer. Not that I'm not already the ultimate gamer, but even more ultimate gamer.

drew millard (3:59)

And so are we are we talking like experimental Neuralink style mind computer connections?

Yannick LeJacq (4:09)

Yeah, just like you can't predict my movements. Like it's like, how does he, you know, make these moves? And what is the most popular eSport right now?

drew millard (4:20)

Fortnite.

Yannick LeJacq (4:22)

Oh, God, I don't want to play Fortnite.

drew millard (4:26)

You got it. Well, I mean, I think if you're the ultimate gamer, you can bend the eSports attention sphere to your will with your skills.

Yannick LeJacq (4:36)

That's true. I'd bring it back to League of Legends where it was always meant to be. And finally, I would just be the best League of Legends. And I assume I'd be in the process of that get like a private island for my gaming specifically.

drew millard (4:56)

Private islands, they've got like a pretty low reputation right now, so you might be able to get one, like they're on sale.

Yannick LeJacq (5:05)

Yeah. Well, that's the problem. Not enough people use them for their intended purpose of gaming and continuing to develop your skill set as a gamer.

drew millard (5:16)

True. If I had $9.4 billion, I would take $0.4 billion of those dollars and buy $0.4 billion worth of cyber trucks. I think that would be pretty badass. Then I would take $0.4 more billion and have them modified in super badass ways, various wraps. I would lift some, I would low ride some, I would put a gas engine in one, and then I would buy the Charlotte Hornets.

Yannick LeJacq (6:02)

Wait, has anyone done Rolling Coal with a cyber truck now that you mention it?

drew millard (6:07)

What is Rolling Coal?

Yannick LeJacq (6:10)

Let's get into that later. I don't want to sidetrack the entire episode, but that's an amazing image I just had in my head.

drew millard (6:19)

Well, so let's get into Mr. Bill.

So like a lot of people, I only heard about Bill Ackman once people started dunking on him on Twitter. And so I think it would be really helpful for people if they could get a sense of who this guy is and like, yeah, where he comes from. And Yannick, as the chief Macho Pod researcher, I throw this to you.