Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman and his Israeli-born wife Neri Oxman bought a 4.9% stake in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Ackman, a Harvard graduate who pushed for the ouster of Ivy League president Claudine Gay, has been an outspoken critic of the rise in anti-Semitism since the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.
TASE announced the transaction. press releasenoted that this “reflects a strong vote of confidence in both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Israeli economy as a whole.”
The deal is part of the sale of an approximately 18.5% stake to foreign and local investors for 353 million shekels, or $95 million, according to calculations. bloombergThat means the couple paid out about $25 million for their share.
Mr. Ackman (founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, recently named one of the world's best-performing hedge funds) and Mr. Oxman were named in a statement regarding the sale at a 2% discount. Until the recent closing price of TASE, which was the only “prominent buyer”.
The country's economy has suffered since the terrorist attack that killed 1,200 people and the subsequent Israeli military invasion of the Gaza Strip.
According to Bloomberg, the exchange's stock price rose as much as 9.4% following the announcement, putting it on track to make up for all the losses it has experienced since the outbreak of war.
“TASE intends to use the net proceeds from this offering to invest in its technology infrastructure,” the stock exchange said in a press release.
Representatives for Mr. Ackman and Mr. Oxman declined to comment.
Ackman, 57, launched a campaign to banish gays for not condemning more than 30 student organizations at Harvard University, which released a letter holding Israel “fully responsible” for Hamas terrorist attacks. .
Gay drew further scorn for his disastrous appearance at a December 5th Congressional hearing in which he refused to say that those who call for the genocide of Jews on campus would be punished.
She resigned earlier this month after it was revealed that the embattled president had plagiarized parts of her doctoral thesis.
Mr. Ackman was accused of “bullying” Mr. Gay into his resignation, and his wife, a former Massachusetts Institute of Technology student, was investigated by Business Insider for allegedly plagiarizing multiple paragraphs of his 2010 doctoral thesis.
Oxman, an architectural designer, admitted that she did not properly attribute some quotes in her doctoral thesis, but Ackman tried to distinguish that her gaffe did not amount to plagiarism.
It accused the paper's editor, John Cooke, of being a “known anti-Zionist” and demanded that it be retracted.
“My wife is Israeli,” the billionaire added, taking aim at a possible motive behind Business Insider's Oxman reporting.
BI's parent company, Axel Springer, has supported Cook and the magazine's reporting.
Ackman has since called Business Insider “cheers” and threatened to sue.
