General Electric Company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc.: Billionaire William Ackman’s Recent Comments

Moving on to General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), Bill Ackman acknowledged that his team spent “an enormous amount of time working on GE” even before the company announced the sale of the majority of its real estate assets to The Blackstone Group back in April. However, the hedge fund manager and his team decided not to invest in the stock, saying that it “wasn’t cheap enough”. Let us remind you that Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management disclosed a 49.62 million-share stake in General Electric last week, along with a presentation that pinpoints specific actions that need to be undertaken in order to unlock more shareholder value at the company. Going back to the interview, Bill Ackman said the following regarding Nelson’s stance on GE: “I think Nelson’s correct, I think the direction GE is heading is correct”. He also outline that “GE is actually an extremely well-operated company, but it’s a company that’s been an absolute failure in terms of the way they’ve allocated capital”. In the meantime, Nelson Peltz is anticipated to force, in a friendly manner, General Electric Company (NYSE:GE)’s management to increase leverage, undertake share buyback programs, and produce greater returns from its industrial acquisitions.

Last but not least, Bill Ackman also believes that Michael Bloomberg is going to run for president in 2016 and win. He reckons that the founder of the financial news and data company Bloomberg, who has also served as the Mayor of New York City for three consecutive terms, would make a strong candidate simply because he is a business-oriented, honest, straight-talking lad. The hedge fund manager emphasized that “Bloomberg has all the qualities that people like about Trump but none of the qualities they don’t”. Even more to that, Bill Ackman accentuated that “I would do everything in my power to get this guy elected”. The investor also asserted that stock markets would benefit greatly from a potential announcement of Bloomberg’s candidacy, saying that “the stock market would be up 5 percent the day he announced and 10 percent when he wins.“

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