Wall Street investor Bill Ackman has defended his 18 March appearance on CNBC, which drew criticism that he had deliberately scared people in order that his asset management firm Pershing Square could make money from the coronavirus crisis by betting against the market.

Ackman says that rather than being very bearish on the show, he had in fact turned sufficiently bullish to be buying stocks in the belief the US administration would shut down America for 30 days. This unprecedented action would beat the coronavirus and send markets and the economy into recovery mode.

The investor made $2.6bn from a recent bet designed to protect Pershing Square from falling stock markets triggered by the pandemic.

He says the firm’s priority is always to protect its investors, including pension funds and private investors, from losing money. Pershing Square therefore decided to hedge against coronavirus risk, rather than sell all its investments.

By the time Ackman was interviewed by CNBC, the hedge had already paid off. ‘In fact, we had sold more than half the hedge prior to the show, and the balance over the next three trading days,’ says Ackman.

Pershing Square has reinvested the proceeds in ‘companies we know very well’. These include hotels giant Hilton, Starbucks and Restaurant Brands, which generates royalties from the Burger King, Tim Hortons and Popeyes brands. It has also invested $500m to allow real estate developer Howard Hughes Corp to press ahead with various development projects.

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