- Bill Ackman rejected allegations his crusade against Harvard has been fueled by personal resentment.
- But the billionaire investor did share details of a donation gone awry that left him upset.
- Ackman said Harvard missed out on millions after selling stock he donated to the university.
In a Tuesday social media post, Bill Ackman claimed Harvard squandered millions of dollars worth of donated stock in 2020 as he simultaneously rejected allegations that his ongoing crusade against the university in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war has been fueled by his own personal resentment against the school.
The billionaire investor delved into the details of the donation while responding to a Tuesday New York Times piece that suggested Ackman’s two-month public push against his alma mater and other Ivy League institutions over campus antisemitism has been, in part, inflamed by his prior frustrations with Harvard.
The frustrations stemmed from ignored advice around getting students back to campus during the COVID pandemic and around investing a donation, the Times reported, based on conversations with those familiar with the interactions.
In a lengthy post on X, Ackman rejected the Times report, saying its premise — that he has publicly gone after Harvard and University President Claudine Gay because the institution opted not to follow his advice on several issues in the past — is false.
“I have held no resentment toward Harvard ever,” Ackman wrote. “And I have none now.”
In recent months, Ackman has become a leading voice in the increasingly heated cultural debate over antisemitism and free speech on prominent college campuses, turning his ire toward Harvard and Gay specifically.
In rejecting The Times’ broader narrative, Ackman confirmed one tidbit in the outlet’s piece, and offered additional details about a “serious issue” he still has with Harvard.
During a personally difficult period in late 2017, Ackman said he struck a unique deal with Harvard to fulfill his desire to fund a key chair at the university despite his financial troubles at the time. He said he decided to give Harvard $10 million of stock in a private venture-backed company which he expected to be worth a lot more down the line.
Ackman said he and Harvard came to an agreement: If the stock ended up being worth more than $15 million once the company went public, he had the right to allocate the extra money to an initiative of his choosing at the university. If the stock was worth less, he promised to make up the difference with another donation.
When the private company, Coupang, went public in 2021, it was valued at $50 billion, making Harvard’s share of stock worth $85 million, Ackman said.
But when Ackman called his contact at Harvard to discuss ideas for how the excess money should be used, he said he was told the university’s management company, which is responsible for managing the school’s endowment, had sold the stock for $10 million in a private transaction back to Coupang in March 2020.
“I was not happy as you might expect,” Ackman wrote.
He said nobody at Harvard ever contacted him to tell him they had sold the shares and never gave him the chance to buy it back. Ackman said he also never received an apology.
“Harvard missed out on $75m of potential gains, and I lost the opportunity to allocate $70m of those gains to the Harvard-related initiative of my choice,” Ackman wrote.
Harvard did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Ackman acknowledged he was upset and said the situation has still yet to be resolved, despite promises from university officials.
“All Harvard has to do is honor the agreement it had made with me,” Ackman wrote Tuesday. “That is, to grant me the right I bargained for: The right to allocate the $70m of excess proceeds to the Harvard-related initiative of my choice.”
