Pershing Square Manager Bill Ackman Achieves 70% Return in 2020

(This story is only for CNBC Pro Subscribers)

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman appears to have marked one of his best years in 2020 history despite a volatile market rocked by a global pandemic, economic recession and a presidential election.

Its Pershing Square fund returned 70.2% last year after gaining 4.6% in December. This performance was much better than the return in 2020 of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 or even the Nasdaq Composite, which posted a robust gain of 43.6%.

Ackman’s record-breaking year took place in one of the most volatile business environments in recent years, Covid-19, and efforts to contain the virus have resulted in forced business closures, travel restrictions and a recession as a result.

In the depths of the market sell-off in the first quarter of 2020, the S&P 500 fell more than 30% from its all-time high, as traders drove off shares in airlines, retail and Energy. Fear gripped Wall Street as traders worried about rising hospitalizations and deaths, a deep recession and an then uncertain vaccination schedule.