market folly

The founder of hedge fund Pershing Square, Bill Ackman, guest hosted CNBC's Squawk Box yesterday morning and we wanted to highlight his comments for those who might have missed them.  His first segment talked about Barnes & Noble (due to the Microsoft investment news) as well as his position in Burger King.

On Barnes & Noble: He joked that he gives them credit for "existing."  Obviously, the brick and mortar business has come under fire given the proliferation of e-books.  Ackman thinks Microsoft's deal with BKS is a good deal.  We previously highlighted JANA Partners' stake in BKS.


On Burger King:  Ackman loves the new management team and says it's a great business.  They talked about how 3G Capital bought out Burger King just eighteen months ago and have already put in place a turnaround plan that they'll continue to pursue as they'll retain a large stake in the company.

Ackman says there's a lot of upside in the company as they've overhauled the menu and addressed quality.  He invested in Burger King essentially by owning a specialty purpose acquisition company (SPAC) a.k.a. a blank check company.  He and his partners have used it as a vehicle to take Burger King public so that management doesn't have to worry about an initial public offering (IPO).

We've of course previously posted Ackman's presentation on Burger King if you want to see the full investment thesis.

Embedded below is the clip from Ackman's interview:



Be sure to also view more from his appearance, including:

Bill Ackman on Canadian Pacific (his activist investment) as well as his talk on running a better railroad.  He also sat down and talked about his Hong Kong Dollar trade (a trade some people probably forgot he had on).