Billionaire Bill Ackman wants to leave the Amsterdam Stock Exchange after attack by Israeli supporters

The violence against Israeli supporters that occurred Thursday evening in Amsterdam after a Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv has repercussions even on the financial markets. The day after this night of horror, Bill Ackman announced that he would seek to remove the investment fund Pershing Square Holdings from the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

In a post addressed to his 1.5 million subscribers on the X platform this Friday, the American billionaire assures that he will ask the board of directors of the fund, of which he holds 23% with his family, to approve the deletion of its listing. “The board had considered this decision because our second listing on the London Stock Exchange now accounts for over 90% of our trading, he explains. The events that occurred in Amsterdam over the last 24 hours definitively support this decision.”

“Good business” and “moral principles”

After last night's violence, described as“explosion of anti-Semitism” by the city's mayor, Dutch police reported five people briefly hospitalized and 62 arrests. Israel dispatched planes to repatriate supporters. “Leaving a jurisdiction that does not protect its tourists and minority populations means both doing good business and respecting moral principles”says Bill Ackman, according to whom the fund will benefit from “save money and improve liquidity for shareholders”.

Also read
Violence in Amsterdam: “The France-Israel match must be held, otherwise it would be a victory for the anti-Semites,” warns the president of Crif

The 57-year-old billionaire says he has also started discussions with the record company Universal Music Group (UMG), a company listed in Amsterdam and of which he is also a director, to transfer its listing and head office to the United States. “Pershing Square has the right to have UMG listed in the United States. We will exercise this right and obtain the listing of UMG in the United States later next year at the latest.”says Bill Ackman.

The fund manager, whose fortune was estimated at $9.3 billion in 2024 by the magazine Forbesmade himself famous in the United States through several speculative stunts, including a billion-dollar bet against Herbalife stock in 2012. Bill Ackman also campaigns against policies of inclusion and diversity in companies and universities in the United States. He would be partly responsible for the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay, accused of allowing an anti-Semitic campaign to flourish on campus.