Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who was an early investor in the company that has been called the Amazon of South Korea, has announced plans to donate his entire stake in the company to charity. The holding is valued at over $1 billion.
Ackman, in a tweet, said he was a day one investor in Coupang and is gifting his 26.5 million shares to three nonprofits, including his own Pershing Square Foundation, a philanthropic unit founded in December 2006.
Coupang shares closed 40% higher on their first day of trading and were trading in the $50 range at midday Monday, putting his stake at roughly $1.3 billion.
Ackman is in charge of Pershing Square Capital Management, a successful activist hedge fund. The foundation, which operates separately, says it “supports exceptional leaders and innovative organizations that tackle important social issues and deliver scalable and sustainable impact.”
After a pair of bad bets revolving around Valeant Pharmaceuticals and Herbalife in 2017 and 2018, Ackman came roaring back with a successful investment in Chipotle. Last year he announced plans to invest heavily in “mature unicorns”—large, venture-based businesses that had not yet gone public.
Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd., which is backed by Pershing Square Capital Management, has as much as $7 billion it plans to invest.
Ackman did not name the two other nonprofits he had donated shares to—nor did he break out how much each organization had received.