Ackman Predicts Private Equity Pain for $53 Billion Harvard Endowment

Bill Ackman said Harvard University’s endowment is heading for a painful financial reckoning as it weighs selling some of its private equity holdings while battling the Trump administration over federal research funding.

A sale of private equity assets will only come at a “meaningful discount” to their valuation in Harvard’s $53 billion endowment, Ackman said Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Other private equity investments should be marked down accordingly, he said.