We've heard that hedge fund titan Bill Ackman wants to put a tennis court on the roof of Pershing Square Capital's new office building.

This month, Ackman and commercial real-estate firm The Georgetown Company purchased an old Ford dealership building on Manhattan's far West Side for more than $250 million, Commercial Observer reported.

The historic 464,000-square-foot car dealership building will be Pershing Square Capital's new home.

The building is located at 787 11th Avenue on between 54th and 55th streets, which is a pretty big hike from the rest of the hedge funds in Midtown Manhattan. It's located near a park and it offers fantastic views of the Hudson River. 

Pershing Square employs around 70 people. They currently occupy about 31,000 square feet at 888 Seventh Avenue. Other tenants will likely occupy the building too.

The Georgetown Company, Pershing Square's partner in the transaction, is also the same real estate firm that developed the stunning IAC Building on Manhattan's West Side. We can only imagine what they will do with the property. 

Multiple people have told us a tennis court is in the works. Sounds awesome. 

Ackman grew up playing tennis with his family in Chappaqua, New York. He played tennis in high school at Horace Greeley in the 1980s. In college at Harvard, Ackman put down his racquet and rowed crew instead.

Ackman returned to the tennis world after investment banker Jeff Appel, a current and former top ranked player for his age group, sent the investor an unsolicited email in 2005 inviting him to play with his Wall Street tennis crew. He showed up.

Since then, Ackman has become extremely passionate about his tennis. He's consistently improved. 

"It's amazing how Bill keeps improving. He plays as if he played Division I tennis," Appel, who is called the "Mayor of New York tennis," told Business Insider. 

These days, Ackman frequently plays in charity tournaments, and donates significant amounts of money to various causes supported by the Wall Street tennis community. He also sponsors 17-year-old tennis phenom Francis Tiafoe. Ackman and Appel were both guests of Tiafoe's when he played in the main draw of the French Open this May. 

Here's a map of where the new office will be located: 

Here's a Google Street View version: 

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Activist investor Bill Ackman, the CEO of the $18 billion hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management, threw shade at the Wall Street Journal during a conference call with investors on Monday.

During the Q&A portion of the call, Ackman said that he loves the Wall Street Journal and that he reads it every day. However, he thinks that the "Heard On The Street" section has the "most factually inaccurate" and "frankly embarrassing" articles about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He called the section's coverage a "disaster."

Ackman is a shareholder of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and thinks with the right reforms - like eliminating some lines of business - they could be worth much more. Heard on the Street columnist John Carney (a former Business Insider editor) has written several times this year that the companies aren't living up to those hopes. 

"It will likely take a few more quarters before reality seeps into the valuation models of fund managers dreaming of a Fannie windfall," he wrote in a May column after Fannie Mae's quarterly results.

So far, Carney's been proven right. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's shares are down 40% over the past year -- and still far from the $23 to $47 a share that Ackman has predicted they could reach. 

Still, Ackman said he thinks Carney's the one getting it wrong.

"I may put together a binder to help them on basic math," he said.

By the way, that would probably be a monstrous binder. Ackman has a reputation for delivering insanely long presentations at conferences. 

Carney didn't comment beyond a tweet noting Ackman's comments.

Called an "embarrassment" by a billionaire. So does this make me the @megynkelly of financial journalism? #pershingsquare$fnma

— John Carney (@carney) August 10, 2015

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There is a big name in activist investing that has been involved in more than 50 campaigns so far this year.

It isn't Pershing Square, Icahn Associates, or Third Point. You've probably never heard of it.

It's Wall Street law firm Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP.

The firm is the go-to legal adviser for many of Wall Street's biggest and most successful activists.

It has worked for clients including Jeffrey Smith's Starboard Value LP, along with Lone Star Value Management and Glenn Welling's Engaged Capital LLC.

The more than 50 activist campaigns the law firm advised on so far in 2015 is equivalent to 22% of all campaigns, according to FactSet data.

That puts Olshan ahead of the next seven law firms by market share — combined.

The law firm's activity in activism appears to be growing as the strategy is becoming increasingly popular with investors.

Steven Wolosky, a partner and chair of the activist- and equity-investment practice at Olshan, told Business Insider that most of his clients are focused on operational activism rather than turning a quick buck.

Activists are now acting almost like private equity firms, performing diligence on a deal and looking to market their viewpoints to institutional investors, he said.

"It's beyond the performance of the company," said Wolosky. "It's beyond the CEO's performance."

The rise in activism has placed a premium on legal expertise. Hedge funds and big banks alike are eager to bring experts into their ranks to ready defenses in increasingly costly campaigns to control boards' independence.

Ex-activist lawyer David Rosewater was recently hired to head Morgan Stanley's activism defense practice, and another ex-lawyer teamed up with a former JPMorgan executive to launch an activist fund focused on collaborative management earlier this year.

And Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital fund hired ex-Kirkland & Ellis lawyer Stephen Fraidin in January after the M&A pro spent more than a decade on the hedge fund's advisory board.

Olshan's dominance comes at a crucial time for activist investing. There is more cash than ever being put to work in the strategy.

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Pershing Square Holdings, the $7.4 billion publicly traded vehicle led by Bill Ackman, has erased all its gains in a matter of weeks and is down for the year.

Ackman said in an investor update:

"However there has been significant volatility in the investment markets over the past few weeks, largely driven by the decline of the Chinese stock markets, and the fear that slowing growth in China will have repercussions for businesses around the world.

"At the date of this report, the year to date investment performance has been erased, and the Company is at a loss position for the year."

Pershing Square Holdings had been up 10.1% through the end of July, the letter said.

During the first half of the year, the fund returned 3.2% net of fees. In July, the fund gained 6.6%.

Markets have gotten have gotten clobbered in the last week. On Monday, the Volatility Index (VIX), a key measure of fear in the market, hit its highest level since 2009.

Ackman, 49, is known for typically being a long-only activist investor, taking large positions in a handful of companies.

Some of the companies in the portfolio include Allergan, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Actavis, Nomad Foods, Canadian Pacific Railway, Mondelez, Air Products & Chemicals, Zoetis, The Howard Hughes Corporation, Platform Specialty Products.

Ackman is also massively short Herbalife, a multilevel-marketing company that he believes is a "pyramid scheme."

In the letter, Ackman said that he does not believe they will have to exit those investments.

"As a result of our investment principles and the resulting composition of the portfolio, we do not believe that stock market and commodity price declines, currency devaluation, and/or economic weakness in China will have a material impact on the intrinsic value of the portfolio," Ackman wrote.

"While stocks can trade at any price in the short term, because we do not use margin leverage, we will not be forced out of any investment at an inopportune time," he added. "As a result, we have made no meaningful recent changes to our current portfolio holdings other than the addition of greater notional short currency exposure principally through the purchase of put options."

In 2014, Ackman was one of the best-performing hedge fund managers, gaining about 40% compared to the S&P 500's 13% rise.

Pershing Square Holdings' stock fell $0.66, or -2.79%, to end the day at $24.80 per share. Shares of Pershing Square Holdings have fallen more than 9% since the beginning of August.

Here's a chart of Pershing Square Holdings since it IPO'd last October:

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We knew Pershing Square Holdings' performance had faltered in August. Now we know by how much.

The publicly traded vehicle led by Bill Ackman wiped out all of its gains for the year and fell into the red in August.

According to an update, the fund fell 13.1% during the month of August and was down 4.3% for the year as of Tuesday.

It has been a volatile week in the markets. With Thursday's close, the S&P became positive for the week after tanking earlier.

Ackman holds large positions in a handful of publicly traded companies. In an investor update, he said Pershing wouldn't be forced to sell out of those stocks.

It's possible Ackman could have made back some of those losses. The next update comes out next week.

Pershing Square Holdings had been up 10.1% through the end of July.

Ackman wrote that all gains for the year had been erased because of "significant volatility in the investment markets over the past few weeks, largely driven by the decline of the Chinese stock markets, and the fear that slowing growth in China will have repercussions for businesses around the world."

In 2014, Ackman was one of the best-performing hedge fund managers, gaining about 40%, compared with the S&P 500's 13% rise.

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Activist investors are putting cash to work like never before, setting their sights on bigger targets and extracting enormous paydays from companies once thought untouchable. 

They’re awash with cash, as investors in search of returns in a low-interest rate environment pump cash in to the strategy.

Some of the boldface names of activist investing have made billions this year alone.

Business Insider takes a look back at some of the most successful plays by activist investors in recent memory. 

Carl Icahn & Icahn Enterprises pushed Tim Cook to cut a bigger dividend check

Icahn has made an expected $5 billion off two trades: Apple and Netflix. Apple was his activist play, with Icahn earlier this year elbowing CEO Tim Cook to use some of the company’s cash holdings of nearly $200 billion to do buybacks. That earned Icahn Enterprises a reported $3.4 billion profit on Apple. 

Bill Ackman & Pershing Square Management lost and still won

Pershing Square Capital last year bought nearly 10% of Botox maker Allergan and tried to push the company in to a sale to Valeant to earn a quick buck. New Jersey-based competitor Actavis stepped in with a $219 per share bid. That was nearly double what Ackman spent to invest in Allergan. Pershing bagged a $2.6 billion profit on the transaction, according to a New York Times report.

Jeffrey Smith & Starboard Value bagged $200 million in paper gains on Darden

Jeff Smith spun Starboard out of Cowen Group in 2011, and has already racked up plenty of wins and some impressive returns. The fund took a stake in Darden Restaurants at an average of $51.03 a share back in 2013. He succeeded in replacing the entire board last year. By the end of trading Thursday the stock stood at $68.85. Starboard holds more than 11.6 million shares of the stock, giving the firm a paper gain of about $200 million. Smith and Starboard are now shaking up retailer Macy’s. 

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Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, the founder of $19 billion Pershing Square Capital, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" that stocks are pretty cheap right now.

He added that he's a little more bullish on the markets than David Tepper.

On Thursday, Tepper, the founder of $20 billion distressed-debt fund Appaloosa Management, said he's "not as bullish" as he could be.

Pershing Square Holdings, the publicly traded vehicle led by Ackman, faltered in August because of "significant volatility in the investment markets ... largely driven by the decline of the Chinese stock markets, and the fear that slowing growth in China will have repercussions for businesses around the world," he wrote in an investor update.

The fund had been up more than 10.1% through the end of July. When the market tanked, his fund wend down with it, dropping 13.1% from August 1 to 25. That put the fund in the red for the year, down 4.3% for 2015. Toward the end of the month, the fund pared back some of those losses and finished the month down 9.2%, leaving the fund down 0.1% for the year.

In September, the fund has seen gains of 0.4%, leaving the fund up 0.3% for the year.

Ackman holds large positions in a handful of publicly traded companies such as Canadian Pacific Railway, Mondelez, and Valeant. He's also famously short Herbalife, a multilevel marketing company he believes is a "pyramid scheme."

August was a challenging month for many investors, especially the activist funds. The average hedge fund was down 2.2%, according to data from Hedge Fund Research. During that time, the S&P 500 fell 6.2%.

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Billionaire activist investor Bill Ackman, founder of the $19 billion hedge fund Pershing Square, says it is "very likely" that he will pursue another deal similar to the one that led to the controversial sale of Allergan in 2014.

"What we did in Allergan was we called the question and allowed shareholders to decide what they wanted to do with the future of their business," Ackman said on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Friday. "And I think that there are acquirers who would like to — companies they would like to buy. There are transactions that don't happen for 'social issues' that I think we can help catalyze.

"So I think it's very likely we will partner with another strategic to make a bid for a business. We may not get it, but you know, if the outcome for shareholders is the business either improves on its own or gets sold to someone else, I think that's a win."

In April 2014, Ackman took a stake in the pharmaceutical company Allergan and teamed up with the Canadian pharmaceutical company Valeant to try to force Allergan to accept a takeover from Valeant.

All of Ackman and Valeant's offers for the Botox-maker were rejected. By November 2014, the Irish pharmaceutical company Actavis said it was buying Allergan in a deal valued at $66 billion.

Even though Valeant was unsuccessful in its takeover attempt, Ackman, who had started buying Allergan's stock in February 2014, made an estimated $2.7 billion on his position. At the time, Ackman didn't own any shares of Valeant.

Ackman's pursuit of Allergan was seen as controversial. As Business Insider's Linette Lopez wrote, it was a viewed by many as a classic "heads I win, tails you lose" situation.

Ackman earlier this year started building a stake in Valeant. He most recently held 19.4 million shares, a stake valued at about $4.4 billion.

In 2014, Ackman was one of the best-performing hedge fund managers, netting 40.4% for the year. A large part of those returns were a result of his profitable stake in Allergan.

This year is a different story for Ackman.

A volatile August wiped out Ackman's gains for 2015. Pershing Square Holdings had been up more than 10.1% through the end of July. When the market tanked, his fund went down with it, dropping 13.1% from August 1 to 25. That put the fund in the red for the year, down 4.3%. Toward the end of the month, the fund pared back some of those losses and finished the month down 9.2%, leaving the fund down 0.1% for the year.

So far in September, the fund has seen gains of 0.4%, leaving the fund up 0.3% for the year. At this point, a number of the big activist funds will have to race to get back their gains for the year.

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While Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer prepared for the finals at the US Open in Flushing Meadows Corona Park Sunday, Wall Street's biggest hitters were playing in their own version of a Grand Slam.

Team Wall Street took on Team Europe in the first "Finance Cup" Saturday on Randall's Island.

The Finance Cup was co-organized by London-based portfolio manager David Anving and New York-based investment banker Jeffrey Appel.

Appel, nicknamed the "Mayor of New York Tennis," has been credited with helping young tennis players land jobs on Wall Street. He's also credited for bringing hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital, back into the tennis world.

The tournament was an incredible opportunity for folks in the finance community to network and catch up with colleagues from overseas. Next year, the event will be held in London on grass courts.

The event was originally supposed to be held at the New York Athletic Club's outdoor tennis courts in Pelham, New York. Because of inclement weather, however, the event was relocated to Randall's Island. It was steamy and hot inside the bubble. All the players looked like they had gone swimming.

After three intense rounds, Team Wall Street came out with an 8-1 victory. The main event, of course, was the battle of the activist investors: Pershing Square Capital's Ackman vs. Cevian Capital's Christer Gardell.

Ackman's team came out victorious, too.

We've included photo highlights and scores below.

Team Wall Street's Amer Delic, the current Davis Cup captain for Bosnia, teamed up with fellow 6-foot-5 player Mario Ancic. Ancic, who works for Credit Suisse, hit a shot which Bill Ackman described as one of the best he had ever seen.

Ancic, 31, graduated from Columbia Law School and is now working in the leveraged finance group at Credit Suisse. At one point, he was ranked No. 7 in the world for singles. He had a win against Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

Team Europe's Ludovic Walter, 31, brought out the big serve that once made him rank as high as 279 in the world. Walter played No. 1 for Duke and is currently an associate at Cohen Partners in London.

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Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, founder of the $19 billion Pershing Square Capital, has just put out a 29-slide presentation comparing Herbalife to Vemma Nutrition Company.

In late August, the Federal Trade Commission had a federal court halt and freeze the Arizona-based Vemma's assets, accusing Vemma of operating as an illegal pyramid scheme. The FTC says Vemma has lured "college students and other young adults with the prospect of getting rich without having a traditional 9-to-5 job."

This is the sort of allegation Ackman has made against Herbalife.

For nearly three years, Ackman has been publicly crusading against Herbalife, a multilevel marketer that sells weight-loss products, vitamins, and nutritional shakes.

Ackman believes the company operates as a "pyramid scheme" that targets poor people, especially those from the Latino community. Ackman, who is betting that the stock goes to zero, believes that regulators, specifically the Federal Trade Commission, will shut the company down. (The FTC opened an investigation into Herbalife on March 12, 2014).

"Herbalife defenders have gone out of their way to try to show ways the two companies are different," David Klafter, Pershing Square's lawyer, said in a statement. "In reality, they are fundamentally the same."

So far, Ackman's short bet has not paid off. The stock is trading well above the stock price when Ackman's short position became public in December 2012.

We have left voicemails seeking comment from Herbalife's reps.

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Activist investor Bill Ackman's biggest stock holding is getting demolished. 

Shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals plummeted on Monday after Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a letter to the committee's chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), asking him to subpoena the pharmaceutical company for documents related to price increases of acquired drugs, Bloomberg News reported.

Valeant was last trading down $26.39, or -13.23%, at about $173.08 per share. The stock had fallen as much as 20%. Biotech stocks across the board were lower on Monday.

In mid-March, Ackman disclosed that his fund bought 19,473,933 shares, or a approximately 5.7% stake, in the Canadian drug company.

Ackman, who is currently the third largest shareholder, started building his position in the beginning of the year. Reuters reported back in March that his stake was worth about $3.3 billion.

Ackman's average share purchase price is unclear. 

However, since disclosing the position, shares of Valeant have now fallen more than 20%. Most of the decline has happened in the last five trading days.

The stock had been one of Pershing Square's winners in the first half of the year. In his second-quarter letter released in August, Ackman wrote that he thought Valeant shares "remain undervalued."

"We believe that the stock price does not reflect the quality of Valeant’s franchises and future cash flows, and the business development, capital allocation and operating abilities of its management team," Ackman wrote at the time.

Over a year ago, Ackman teamed up with Valeant and its CEO Mike Pearson to pursue a hostile takeover of Allergan, the maker of Botox. All of Ackman and Valeant's offers were rejected.

At the time, Ackman didn't own any shares of Valeant. He couldn't own Valeant shares while they were working on the takeover together. 

Ackman made more than $2.6 billion on his position in Allergan after the company was acquired by Actavis in a $66 billion deal in November. That deal helped Ackman become the most profitable hedge fund manager in 2014. 

Pershing Square was last down about 4.8% for the year, according to an update from last Wednesday.

We reached out to a spokesperson from Pershing Square for comment. 

*An earlier version of this post said that Pershing Square Capital was the largest shareholder of Valeant. The hedge fund is the third largest shareholder. 

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Pershing Square Capital, the $20 billion hedge fund run by activist investor Bill Ackman, got crushed in September.

The fund fell 12.5% during the month. It's down 12.6% for the first nine months of the year, according to a performance update.

Ackman's returns were largely dragged down by the fund's large stake in Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

The Canadian pharmaceutical company's stock crashed this week after all of the Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a letter to the committee's chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), asking him to subpoena the pharmaceutical company for documents related to price increases of acquired drugs.

Shares of Valeant fell by more than 22% in September.

In mid-March, Ackman disclosed that his fund bought 19,473,933 Valeant shares, or an approximately 5.7% stake. Ackman is the third-largest shareholder.

Pershing Square was the best-performing hedge fund last year, returning 40.4%.

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Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has potentially lost more than $1 billion on paper on his hedge fund's largest stock holding.

The Canadian drug company Valeant Pharmaceuticals got hammered after the short-selling firm Citron Research published a report comparing it to Enron.

Valeant's share price fell more than 30%, dropping to around $89.

The stock was down 19% to $118 at the close of Wednesday's trading day.

Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management owns 19,473,933 shares of Valeant, or a 5.7% stake, according to a securities filing. Pershing Square is the third-largest shareholder of Valeant.

Ackman disclosed his position in Valeant on March 17, when the share price was $200 per share. At that share price, the position was worth $3.9 billion.

Assuming Ackman hasn't bought or sold any shares since, his position is worth $2.3 billion at a share price of $118. That would represent a loss of around to $1.6 billion.

Valeant's stock has come under pressure in recent weeks. In late September, Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a letter to the committee's chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), asking him to subpoena the pharmaceutical company for documents related to price increases of acquired drugs.

At the Bloomberg Most Influential Conference this month, Ackman said drug repricing was a very small part of Valeant's business.

He later added: "Valeant has made a massive contribution to drug development, more so than almost any other company."

In the spring of 2014, Ackman teamed up with Valeant to pursue a hostile takeover of Allergan, the maker of Botox. All of Ackman and Valeant's offers were rejected.

At the time, Ackman didn't own any shares of Valeant. He couldn't own Valeant shares while working with the company on the takeover.

Ackman made around $2.6 billion on his position in Allergan after the company was acquired by Actavis in a $66 billion deal in November.

Pershing Square was the best-performing hedge fund last year, returning 40.4%. This year is a different story.

Pershing Square Holdings, the publicly traded vehicle for the fund, was down 9.4% for the year to October 13.

Here's a chart of Valeant's stock for this year:

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Hedge fund titan Bill Ackman purchased 2 million more shares of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Wednesday amid the stock's decline, CNBC's Scott Wapner reports.

The stock was down 19% to $118 at the close of Wednesday's trading day. However, the stock fell 39% at one point during the day, going as low as around $89 before rebounding.

The Canadian drug company's stock cratered after short-selling-firm Citron Research published a report comparing it to Enron. 

Ackman told CNBC that he has not sold a single share.

With the increased position, Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management now owns 21,473,933 shares of Valeant.

Ackman publicly disclosed his position in Valeant March 17, when the share price was $200 per share. At that share price, the position was worth $3.9 billion.

His stake is now worth about $2.5 billion with his increased stake.

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It is not Bill Ackman's week.

Another one of the hedge fund titan's big stock holdings is taking a hit. 

Platform Specialty Products fell 9.8% to about $10.40 per share after the company said that its CEO, Dan Leever, will retire.

Ackman's Pershing Square Capital owns 42,737,394 shares, or a 20.3% stake in the company.

He publicly disclosed the stake on June 29. The share-price close that day was $29.59, valuing his position at the time at $1.2 billion. The position now is worth about $496.5 million.

The stock is down about 18% this week. Year to date, the stock is down more than 55%. The stock is down more than 61% since Ackman revealed his position.

Ackman is an activist investor who's primarily a long-only investor, though he's been shorting Herbalife for nearly three years. He's known for taking a handful of large positions in companies and pushing for changes from management. 

Ackman has suffered huge losses this week on his biggest position, Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

Here's the press release from Platform: 

Platform Specialty Products Corporation (NYSE:PAH) ("Platform"), a global specialty chemicals company, announced today that Daniel H. Leever, Chief Executive Officer of the company, has indicated his intention to retire from the company once a suitable successor has been hired. Until such appointment, the Company's senior management, including Benjamin H. Gliklich, Chief Operating Officer, and Sanjiv Khattri, Chief Financial Officer, will report to the Office of the Chairman, comprised of Martin E. Franklin, Platform's Founder and Chairman, and Mr. Leever.

Martin E. Franklin commented, "Dan has played a pivotal role in the creation of Platform and it is a testament to his energy, passion and "builder" mentality that Platform's annualized, pro forma revenues will have grown five fold from 2013 to 2015, including the impending acquisitions of OMG and Alent. With the upcoming closing of the Alent transaction, we respect Dan's decision that it is the right time for a new generation of leadership to continue the vision. Dan has contributed enormously to Platform's early success, and the values and performance of our first acquisition, the MacDermid business, set a high standard for all the other specialty chemical businesses within our group. A sign of a great leader is that he helps find a successor who can continue the positive momentum in the business and Dan is fully engaged in helping identify a new, extremely high caliber CEO for Platform."

Daniel H. Leever added, "It is with very mixed feelings that I reached the decision that this is the best time for the business and me personally to retire from the responsibilities involved with day to day operations. I believe in Martin's vision for Platform and am proud that I have been able to contribute to its past success and help lay a strong foundation for its continued success. While I'll surely miss the day to day interactions with the incredible employees who lay the foundation for all of Platform's success, I strongly believe that it is the right time for a new person to take over the reins of day to day operations and to be able to set out a clear execution strategy for the next years of consistent, profitable growth."

Here's the stock chart: 

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Billionaire activist investor Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital, is hosting a conference call for investors on Friday morning to discuss his fund's investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals. 

The call will take place at 9 a.m. ET., with Ackman and other Pershing Square portfolio managers and analysts taking questions.

Since taking a position earlier this year, Pershing Square has potentially lost more than $1 billion on paper on Valeant, the fund's largest stock holding.

Shares of the Canadian drug company have collapsed since Wednesday after the California-based short-selling firm Citron Research published a report asking whether Valeant was operating an Enron-like fraud.

Valeant's share price has declined by more than 38% since the report came out.

Valeant has categorically denied the allegations in the Citron report. The company hosted an all-hands call on Monday morning to address the allegations.

Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management owns 21,473,933 shares of Valeant. During Wednesday's sell-off, Ackman bought 2 million more shares, CNBC reported.

Pershing Square is Valeant's third-largest shareholder. 

Ackman first disclosed his position in Valeant on March 17, when the share price was $200 per share. At that share price, the position was worth $3.9 billion.

With his added shares from last week, Ackman's position is worth $2.36 billion at a closing share price of $110.04 from Monday. That would represent a loss of around $1.5 billion.

Valeant's stock has come under pressure in recent months. In late September, Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a letter to the committee's chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), asking him to subpoena the pharmaceutical company for documents related to price increases of acquired drugs.

At the Bloomberg Most Influential Conference earlier this month, Ackman said drug repricing was a very small part of Valeant's business.

He later added: "Valeant has made a massive contribution to drug development, more so than almost any other company."

In the spring of 2014, Ackman teamed up with Valeant to pursue a hostile takeover of Allergan, the maker of Botox. All of Ackman and Valeant's offers were rejected.

At the time, Ackman didn't own any shares of Valeant. He couldn't own Valeant shares while working with the company on the takeover.

Ackman made around $2.6 billion on his position in Allergan after the company was acquired by Actavis in a $66 billion deal in November.

Pershing Square was the best-performing hedge fund last year, returning 40.4%. This year is a different story.

Pershing Square Holdings, the publicly traded vehicle for the fund, was down 11.2% for the year to October 20 before the Valeant collapse. The latest performance data for the fund is expected to come out Wednesday afternoon.

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Pershing Square Holdings, the publicly traded fund run by hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, is having a brutal year.

The fund is down 15.9% through October 27, according to a performance update. The fund had been down 11.2% a week ago.

The fund's performance was primarily dragged down by its largest equity holding, Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

Since taking a position earlier this year, Pershing Square has likely lost more than $1 billion on paper on its investment.

Shares of the Canadian drug company have collapsed since last Wednesday after the California-based short-selling firm Citron Research published a report asking whether Valeant was operating an Enron-like fraud.

Valeant collapse

Valeant's share price has declined by more than 34% since the report came out.

Valeant has categorically denied the allegations in the Citron report. The company hosted an all-hands call Monday morning to address the allegations.

Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management owns 21,473,933 shares of Valeant, including 2 million shares Ackman bought during last Wednesday's sell-off. Pershing Square is Valeant's third-largest shareholder.

Ackman first disclosed his position in Valeant March 17, when the share price was $200 per share. At that share price, the position was worth $3.9 billion.

With his added shares from last week, Ackman's position is worth about $2.36 billion at Tuesday's closing share price of $109.54. That would represent a loss of around $1.5 billion.

Pershing Square was the best-performing hedge fund last year, returning 40.4%.

Ackman plans to hold a conference call Friday, the last trading day of the month, to discuss his Valeant investment.

Meanwhile, a number of other positions in his portfolio, including Platform Specialty Products and Canadian Pacific, have declined this year. His short of Herbalife has continued to rise during 2015.

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Billionaire activist investor Bill Ackman, founder of Pershing Square Capital, just wrapped up a four-hour long call defending his large investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

"This is a complicated business," Ackman began. "Any business that has grown quickly is complicated." 

Here is a summary of the key points from the call:

• The company has smart investors - The investor base is a "sophisticated" one, comprised of a "who's who of kind of so-called smart money." 
• It is a victim of bad PR - Ackman said the company under invests in public relations and government relations. "They need help on the PR side," he said. He later went on to slam the PR firm hired by Valeant. He said that Sard Verbinnen has done a "fabulous job" for Herbalife and a "horrible" job representing Valeant. Ackman added they may be "too distracted" by Herbalife. Ackman is famously short Herbalife. 
• Mike Pearson is still the right man to be CEO - Ackman said that he hasn't lost confidence in Valeant's CEO Michael Pearson. He said: "Mike comes across as very gruff, very business like. People describe him as a bit of an introvert. He doesn't look like you're typical CEO. That's not a good reason not to invest in a company." 
• Life will go on - Ackman expects negative press reports and scrutiny from regulators and politicians in the next several months. He also expects that investigations will conclude in four years. "Life will go on for Valeant. While this has been a very damaging moment for the company.... We think the Valeant business is quite robust."
• The stock is set to go higher - Ackman said that the stock now is "tremendously undervalued" and that it has an "89% upside." He added that investors are forgetting the "rest of Valeant's business." He said that he expects Valeant's share price to be worth $448 in three years. The stock price is currently down about 11% at $99.63.
• Specialty pharmacies are 'good for America' - Ackman believes that patients and doctors like specialty pharmacies. "Specialty pharmacies help patients get the drug their doctor prescribed and reduce administrative burden. Patients receive their medication quickly by mail, sometimes before claim has been adjudicated," his presentation said.

He added that other companies such as Allergan and Novartis use specialty pharmacies too. He said that the media has missed the point that subsidizing copays is actually "good for America" as opposed to something that is "somehow insidious." 

3 key questions 

Ackman later noted that Valeant didn't mention Philidor, the specialty pharmacy it had worked with, until last week. He felt like it should have been disclosed sooner.

Ackman said that his fund strives to be transparent. He felt like Valeant failed to adequately three key questions on the company's conference call this week addressing Citron's allegations. 

He added that he would have "appreciated more color" from Valeant's management as opposed to a scripted conference call. 

A stock under pressure

Since taking a position beginning in February this year, Pershing Square has likely lost more than $1.5 billion on paper on Valeant, the fund's largest stock holding.

Ackman said they did a "fair amount of due diligence" on the company in early 2014. At the time, Pershing Square and Valeant teamed up together to pursue a takeover of Allergan. Their attempts were unsuccessful, but Pershing Square made a great deal of money after Allergan did a deal with Actavis.

Pershing Square became a shareholder in February of this year.

Valeant's share price came under pressure after it had been criticized for its drug pricing. The company has also been compared to Turing Pharmaceuticals, a biotech start up run by controversial CEO Martin Shkreli. 

In late September, Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee sent a letter to the committee's chairman, Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), asking him to subpoena Valeant for documents related to price increases of acquired drugs.

The Citron report

Shares of Valeant 40% since last Wednesday after Citron Research, the California-based short selling research firm led by Andrew Left, published a report asking whether Valeant was operating an Enron-like fraud.

Citron's report focuses on the company's relationship with Philidor, a specialty pharmacy that distributes prescription drugs for Valeant. Valeant is the only supplier to Philidor, and it also has an option to buy the company. On Wall Street, no one had really heard of Philidor until earlier this month.

Citron has accused Valeant of using Philidor to create "phantom sales" of its products.

Ackman said that he does not think Valeant engaged in deceptive accounting. 

He did add that he does "think some of Philidor's numbers are exaggerated." 

Valeant has categorically denied the allegations in the Citron report. The company hosted an all-hands call Monday morning to address the allegations.

On the call, Ackman said that he agreed with Pearson's assessment that Citron's Left "yelled fire in a crowded theater." Ackman pointed out that Left hasn't disclosed his position.   

Valeant drops Philidor

On Friday morning, Valeant said it was "severing all ties" with Philidor, which had represented 6.8% of Valeant's total revenue in the third quarter. 

Valeant's CEO Michael Pearson said in a statement they have "lost confidence in Philidor's ability to continue to operate in a manner that is acceptable to Valeant and the patients and doctors we serve." 

He continued: "We understand that patients, doctors and business partners have been disturbed by the reports of improper behavior at Philidor, just as we have been. We know the allegations have also led them to question Valeant and our integrity, and for that I take complete responsibility." 

Valeant also appointed former Deputy Attorney General of the United States Mark Filip of Kirkland & Ellis LLP to advise the committee in its review of allegations related to Valeant's business relationship with Philidor.

On Thursday afternoon, CVS and Express Scripts also terminated their relationships with Philidor.

What's at stake for Ackman?

Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management owns 21,473,933 shares of Valeant, including 2 million shares Ackman bought during last Wednesday's sell-off.

He bought his original shares at an average price of $198. The new shares were bought at around $108. 

Pershing Square is Valeant's third-largest shareholder. The stock is Ackman's largest investment, making up a percentage of his portfolio that's in the "high teens." The losses have dragged down his fund's performance.

Pershing Square Holdings, the fund's publicly traded vehicle, is down 15.9% this year through Tuesday, October 27.

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Bill Ackman, the billionaire founder of Pershing Square Capital, spent nearly four hours hosting a call defending his massive investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

Ackman has lost more than $1 billion on paper after Citron Research, a short-selling firm led by Andrew Left, issued a report asking if the company was running an Enron-like fraud.

The Citron report focused on Valeant's relationship with Philidor, a specialty pharmacy. Citron has accused Valeant of using Philidor to book "phantom sales."

Valeant has denied those allegations and said it would sever all ties with Philidor.

On the call, Ackman said that he expects negative press reports and scrutiny from regulators and politicians in the next several months. He also expects that investigations will conclude in four years.

"Life will go on for Valeant. While this has been a very damaging moment for the company ... we think the Valeant business is quite robust." he said.

Ackman thinks the stock is "tremendously undervalued" and that it has an "89% upside." He added that investors are forgetting the "rest of Valeant's business."

He expects Valeant's share price to be worth $448 in three years. The stock price is currently down about 13% at $96.75, its lowest in more than two years.

We've included the slides below:

Pershing Square Holdings, the publicly traded vehicle led by hedge fund titan Bill Ackman, is down 19% year to date, according to a performance update.

The fund fell 7.3% in October.

Ackman had gone into August up just over 10%. The fund erased all of its gains for the year during that period of volatility.

Most of the losses lately though have come from Ackman's big bet on Valeant Pharmaceuticals, his fund's largest holding. Valeant makes up a percentage of Pershing's portfolio in the "high teens." 

On Friday, the last trading day of October, Ackman spent nearly four hours hosting a call defending his Valeant investment.

Ackman has lost more than $1.9 billion on paper after Citron Research, a short-selling firm led by Andrew Left, issued a report two weeks ago asking if the company was running an Enron-like fraud. The stock had already been under pressure after the company was scrutinized for raising the prices for two acquired drugs. 

The Citron report, though, focused on Valeant's relationship with Philidor, a specialty pharmacy. Citron has accused Valeant of using Philidor to book "phantom sales."

Valeant has denied those allegations and said it would sever all ties with Philidor.

Ackman said that he expects that Valeant will have to deal with negative press reports and scrutiny from regulators and politicians in the next several months. He also expects that investigations will conclude in four years.

"Life will go on for Valeant. While this has been a very damaging moment for the company ... we think the Valeant business is quite robust." he said.

Ackman thinks the stock is "tremendously undervalued" and that it has an "89% upside." He added that investors are forgetting the "rest of Valeant's business."

(Citron's response to this is that, Valeant's cash flows are declining and it is losing its ability to raise prices on drugs.) 

Ackman expects Valeant's share price to be worth $448 in three years. The stock price ended the month down at $93.77, its lowest in more than two years.

The stock was last trading in the premarket on Tuesday at $102 per share.

Other portfolio holdings that Pershing held that fell in October include Platform Specialty Products and Canadian Pacific.

Herbalife, whose stock Ackman has been short for nearly 3 years, rose in October. Herbalife's stock is up 50% year-to-date.

Meanwhile, Mondelez, Restaurant Brands International, Howard Hughes, and Zoetis all climbed in October.

Pershing Square was the best-performing hedge fund in 2014, gaining just over 40%. 

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