Bill Ackman’s hedge fund employs 44 people. It seems nice there
Bill Ackman’s pro tennis debut, which he lost in straight sets, was rather sternly criticised by former pros such as former world No 1 Andy Roddick. Luckily, there is one field he is above most reproach: running his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management.
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Pershing Square wants to IPO soon. It’s not clear how soon, but soon enough. Two weeks ago, the SEC dropped its prospectus, as it does with all companies that intend to IPO imminently.
In that prospectus, Pershing Square noted that it had 44 employees at the end of 2025, and that it paid out a total of $20.2m in compensation in 2025. That comes to around $460k per person. The people who work for Ackman are well paid.
Of its 44 employees, it notes separately that just nine are “investment professionals”. That’s a very small team, but it makes sense for an investor whose public portfolio consists of just 13 huge, publicly listed firms. It also says that it has “a legal and compliance team, a technology team, a trading team, a finance team, a public relations team and an investor relations teams [sic].”
Who’s getting the big bucks, then? The executive team. CEO and founder Bill Ackman earned $143m for his work in 2025, and $47m for his work in 2024. Ryan Israel, his second-in-command and Chief Investment Officer, earned $44m and $28m in those same years. Ben Hakim, the firm’s president, earned $18m for his work in 2025.
Pershing Square’s 44 employees puts it firmly in the realm of the world’s little tiny hedge funds such as Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management, which has around $70bn in AUM and just 50ish employees. Unlike Pershing Square, TCI Fund Management is a long-only firm.
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