NYC moguls rip Bill Ackman for congratulating Zohran Mamdani

NYC moguls rip Bill Ackman for congratulating Zohran Mamdani

New York City enterprise moguls ripped hedge-fund tycoon Bill Ackman for congratulating Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani on his Tuesday win — after he famously spent a fortune making an attempt to knock the left-wing lawmaker out of the high-stakes race.

Ackman, the billionaire boss of Pershing Square Capital, wrote late Tuesday to Mamdani on X: “congrats on the win. Now you have a big responsibility. If I can help NYC, just let me know what I can do.”

That was after Ackman had bankrolled major opposition to Mamdani — first backing lame duck Mayor Eric Adams’ failed reelection bid — then throwing his help behind former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who acquired hammered on Tuesday.

Ackman, who rose to prominence in 2012 with a disastrous $1 billion in need of Herbalife, has now change into an energetic political commentator on social media. REUTERS

New York City enterprise energy dealer Kathryn Wylde called Ackman’s olive department “ridiculous,” saying he was merely “trying to justify a failed investment”.

“Having railed against Mamdani for months, literally, to now turn around and say he’s happy to help. I mean, really?” the outgoing CEO of Partnership for New York told The Post on Wednesday.

Wylde famous that Ackman — who had warned that Mamdani would make New York a more harmful place and trigger top companies to flee the metropolis if he gained — had donated $1 million to Defend NYC, an anti-Mamdani tremendous PAC, in addition to $750,000 to Fix the City, a pro-Cuomo tremendous PAC.

“He is trying to make news out of raising the white flag, and it gets him all the attention.”

Cliff Asness — the billionaire boss of AQR Capital Management — likewise ripped Ackman’s Mamdani overture as “gimp-like.”

He also questioned Ackman’s “self-awareness” — citing Ackman’s past criticism of Mamdani’s refusal to sentence Hamas in the wake of its Oct. 7 assaults on Israel.

AQR Capital Management Founder Cliff Asness, seen right here with spouse Laurel, blasted rival hedge funder Bill Ackman over what he called his “gimp-like offer” to assist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Neilson Barnard

“Soviet-style socialism and a support of terrorism with some obvious hate of Israel/Jews (please keep the Jews who supported him to yourself, I am well aware) is past disagreement, past congratulations, and past a gimp-like offer to help,” Asness, a Queens native, thundered Wednesday on X.

In an exclusive interview with The Post on Tuesday, Asness blasted Mamdani’s plan to freeze rents as a “hydrogen bomb” that would blow up the metropolis’s real property market.

Follow the latest on the Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani:

Meanwhile, Third Point CEO Dan Loeb — whose internet price is an estimated $3.8 billion — supplied a simple, sarcastic jab in response to Ackman’s publish.

“Ladies, find a man who loves you the way Bill Ackman loves himself,” he wrote on X.

Mamdani called for the end to the Israeli ‘occupation’ in his assertion posted in the future after the October 7, 2023, assaults. Lev Radin/Shutterstock

The Post has approached a spokesman for Ackman for remark.

For his half, Mamdani said Wednesday he “appreciated [Ackman’s] words.”

“I think what I find is that there is a needed commitment from leaders of the city to speak and work with anyone who is committed to lowering the cost of living in the city — and that’s something that I will fulfill,” the mayor-elect told “Good Morning America.”

It’s not the first U-turn for Ackman relating to politics. In May 2023, Ackman called on JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to run in last yr’s presidential election against Donald Trump — before switching sides and throwing his weight behind the GOP winner.

Dan Loeb, CEO and founding father of Third Point, also blasted Ackman’s olive department on social media. The two males are long-standing Wall Street rivals. REUTERS

Ackman, whose estimated internet price is $9.5 billion, is also a current convert to the current administration’s stance on strong borders, cracking down on unlawful immigration and blasting woke causes such as DEI.

“Open borders will kill Western civilization. Careful vetting of immigrants, standards for being part of Western society, and deportation for violating those standards are going to become essential features of immigration policies globally,” he wrote on X three days after Trump’s second presidential election victory.

But his Pershing Square Foundation has in the past donated hundreds of thousands of {dollars} to charities that assist undocumented migrants in this nation.

Ackman urged JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to run in the 2024 presidential elections – before he morphed right into a vocal supporter of President Trump. REUTERS

“I am not going to explain to [Elliott Management founder] Paul Singer how to launch a takeover bid,” joked one New York political operative who labored immediately on the mayoral election race.

“But if there is one thing I know about billionaires, it is that they think they know everything about politics,” the insider added.

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