LIGHT OF WHAT'S GOING ON, AND HE'S PUTTING AT RISK THE TAX EXEMPT STATUS OF THE DONOR-ADVISED FUND. >> LARGER QUESTION ABOUT YOUR ROLE AS A DONOR AND INFLUENTIAL FIGURE IN THESE INSTANCES. SOME PEOPLE LOOK AT THIS AND SAY, WHAT IS BILL ACKMAN -- WHAT IS HIS RIGHT TO BE INVOLVED IN ANY OF THIS? MAYBE AS A SHAREHOLDER, YOU ARE, BUT SHOULD WE BE LISTENING TO THE "BILLIONAIRE CLASS"? YOU'VE SEEN THIS CRITIQUE. SHOULD WE BE LISTENING TO THESE PEOPLE? SHOULD THE ACADEMICS HAVE MORE FREEDOM AND HAVE MORE FREEDOM FROM THE MONEY? WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THAT? >> SURE. >> BY THE WAY, THIS IS BECOMING A BIGGER ISSUE AT HARVARD NOW. I WANT TO GET INTO THE HARVARD ENDOWMENT IN A MOMENT, BECAUSE THAT'S THE NEXT PIECE OF THE CAMPAIGN THAT YOU'RE GOING AFTER. >> SO, THE ANSWER IS, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO ME, DON'T FOLLOW ME. THAT'S NUMBER ONE. THE REASON WHY I CAN SPEAK FREELY, AND THIS IS AN UNFORTUNATE THING ABOUT SOCIETY TODAY -- TODAY, IF YOU SAY SOMETHING THAT OFFENDS SOMEONE, YOU CAN LOSE YOUR JOB. YOU CAN GET BLACKBALLED. YOU CAN GET CANCELED. IT HAPPENS ON UNIVERSITIES. I'M NOT AFRAID. I'M NOT AFRAID OF BEING CANCELED. I'M NOT AFRAID OF LOSING MY JOB, AND FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE GIVES ME THE WHEREWITHAL TO SPEAK. AND BY THE WAY, I'VE LITERALLY GOTTEN THOUSANDS OF EMAILS, TEXTS, LETTERS, I CAN WALK YOU BACK TO MY OFFICE AND SHOW YOU, THEY COME IN EVERY DAY, PILES OF THEM, PEOPLE SAYING, BILL, THANK YOU FOR SPEAKING ON BEHALF OF ALL OF US. AND YOU KNOW, MY BIGGEST DRIVER IN LIFE -- I SHOULD HAVE ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION DIFFERENTLY. THIS STARTED PRETTY CLOSE TO WHEN I WAS 18. BIGGEST DRIVER WAS INDEPENDENCE. I WANTED TO SPEAK FREELY, LIVE MY LIFE, AND THAT MOTIVATED ME TO BE SUCCESSFUL, AND YOU KNOW, I ARGUE WITH SUCCESS ALSO COMES RESPONSIBILITY. IF I SEE SOMETHING THAT'S A PROBLEM IN SOCIETY, I WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. AND THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE A LOT OF MONEY, LOT OF RESOURCES, YOU KNOW WHAT? THEY CAN SIT ON THEIR YACHT, WHICH IS FINE, AND LIVE THEIR LIFE, AND NOBODY'S GOING TO CRITICIZE THEM. IN MY CASE, I WANT TO, YOU KNOW, WHEN I'M 85, LOOKING BACK, I WANT TO SAY, I HELPED SOLVE A NUMBER OF IMPORTANT PROBLEMS. IF YOU CAN'T TELL BY NOW, I'M A FIXER, OKAY? WHAT IS SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM? IT'S FIXING COMPANIES. WHAT IS THIS? HELPING TO FIX UNIVERSITIES. IT'S ALL THE SAME. >> LET ME ASK YOU ONE MORE QUESTION ABOUT THAT, AND THEN I WANT TO TALK ABOUT THE HARVARD ENDOWMENT. IF YOU GO BACK, YOU HAVE A TRACK RECORD IN WHICH YOU FIX THINGS, AND TIMES YOU FIX THEM AND YOU WIN IN A VERY BIG WAY. YOU ALSO FAIL IN A BIG WAY TOO, RIGHT? YOU COULD EVEN ARGUE THAT YOU'RE SOMEBODY WHO HITS GRAND SLAM HOME RUNS BUT ALSO HAS A WHOLE BUNCH OF STRIKEOUTS THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS. >> I DON'T THINK THAT'S ACCURATE. IF YOU LOOK BACK AT OUR HISTORY, WE HAVE HAD SOME BIG LOSSES, BUT THE SUCCESSES VASTLY OVERWHELM THE FAILURES. LIKE THE SUCCESS RATE IS EXTREMELY HIGH. AND YOU SHOULD LOOK AT OUR RECORD OVER TIME. SO, VALUE IN HERBALIFE, DISASTER. JCPENNEY, SMALLER DISASTER. TRY TO NAME TEN. WE'VE MADE A HUNDRED INVESTMENTS, WELL MORE THAN A HUNDRED. >> LET'S TALK ABOUT THE NEXT FIGHT THAT APPEARS TO BE ON YOUR HANDS, WHICH IS THAT YOU ARE SUPPORTING, I THINK, AT LEAST THE REPORTS HAVE BEEN THAT YOU'RE SUPPORTING AN OVERTHROW OF THE FOLKS WHO CONTROL THE ENDOWMENT AT HARVARD. >> NOT ACCURATE. SO, HARVARD HAS A BOARD OF DIRECTORS THAT ELECTS ITSELF. IT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT BOARD. IT'S THE CORPORATION BOARD CALLED THE FELLOWS OF HARVARD. THEY REALLY CONTROL WHO'S THE PRESIDENT. THEN, THERE'S A GROUP OF ALUMS THAT ARE PART OF SOMETHING CALLED THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS. >> RIGHT. >> 30 OR 32 OF THOSE. EACH YEAR, THERE ARE FIVE OR SIX SEATS THAT COME UP FOR ELECTION. IN LIGHT OF EVERYTHING THAT'S GONE DOWN ON CAMPUS, A GROUP OF FOUR ALUMNI, A VERY IMPRESSIVE GROUP, YOU KNOW, NAVY S.E.A.L., MARINE, ALL MILITARY PEOPLE, BUT ALSO BRILLIANT. I KNOW ONE OF THEM. A GUY NAMED ALEC WILLIAMS, PRINCETON, DID A JOINT DEGREE HARVARD BUSINESS DEGREE AND YALE WHY HE WAS GOING TO AFGHANISTAN. SUPER IMPRESSIVE GUY. THEY'RE VERY UNHAPPY WITH WHAT'S GOING ON ON THE HARVARD CAMPUS, AND THEY NEED 3,200 SIGNATURES. BY THE WAY, IF YOU'RE A HARVARD ALUM, GO SIGN UP AND BACK THEIR CAMPAIGN. AND THEY'RE GOING THE PUT THEMSELVES UP FOR ELECTION TO BE ON THE BOARD OF OVERSEERS, WHICH DOESN'T HAVE A LOT OF CONTROL, BUT THE BENEFIT OF SUPPORTING THEM IS IT SENDS THIS INCREDIBLE MESSAGE TO HARVARD, GIVES THEM A MANDATE TO LOOK AT THINGS, AND THEIR PLATFORM INCLUDES ONE OF THE ISSUES THEY'RE CONCERNED ABOUT IS THE HARVARD ENDOWMENT EARNS SOMETHING LIKE A 4.5% COMPOUNDED RETURN FOR A DECADE IN ONE OF THE BEST BULL RECORDS IN HISTORY. THE HARVARD ENDOWMENT WOULD PROBABLY BE $500 BILLION OR SOMETHING, SO THEY'RE GOING TO LOOK INTO THAT. >> SO, YOU THINK THERE'S -- WHAT ARE YOU SUGGESTING? >> WELL, SINCE WE -- WHAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT BEING IN THE POSITION WE'RE IN IS WE GET INBOUNDS. I'LL SHARE A COUPLE AND THE WORLD WILL TELL YOU WHETHER THEY'RE TRUE OR NOT. HARVARD LOST, APPARENTLY, A BILLION DOLLARS ON A FRAUDULENT SITUATION. >> WHAT FRAUDULENT SITUATION? >> APPARENTLY, THEY BOUGHT, LIKE, A FOREST IN THE AMAZON FROM BRAZIL, AND THE -- THEY INCLUDED IN THEIR RETURNS MARK TO MARKET GAINS ON THE FOREST. BUT APPARENTLY, THEY RELIED ON MARKS EACH YEAR FROM THE PERSON WHO SOLD THEM THE FOREST. KEPT TELLING THEM THAT IT WAS INCREASING IN VALUE UNTIL THEY, AT SOME POINT, BAD THINGS HAPPENED, IT BLEW UP AND WENT TO ZERO AND HAD TO WRITE IT OFF COMPLETELY. AT THAT POINT, IT WAS WORTH OVER A BILLION DOLLARS. SO, THE EMPLOYEES WHO WERE GETTING PAID INCENTIVES BASED ON THE INCREASED VALUE OF THIS FOREST BENEFITTED, AND THEN HARVARD TOOK A HUGE WIPEOUT. THAT'S NEVER BEEN DISCLOSED PUBLICLY. AGAIN, I HAVE NO -- >> WE HAVE TO FACT CHECK THAT. >> I'M SAYING THIS IS SOMETHING I HEARD FROM A VERY, VERY CREDIBLE SOURCE. THAT'S ONE. THE SECOND ONE I HEARD WAS THAT A PRESIDENT OF HARVARD HAD A VIEW ON INTEREST RATES AND DECIDED -- AND TOLD THE ENDOWMENT TO MAKE A BET ON RATES AND THAT BET LOST A BILLION DOLLARS. >> OKAY. >> SO, I GOT A COUPLE -- >> I'M A LITTLE ANXIOUS ABOUT PUTTING THAT OUT IN THE PUBLIC WITHOUT FACT CHECKING THAT IN REALTIME. >> HARVARD'S NOT A PUBLICLY TRADED THING. HARVARD SHOULD PUT OUT A STATEMENT, IS IT TRUE THAT THE PRESIDENT OF HARVARD DID A DERIVATIVE TRADE THAT LOST MONEY ON RATES AND IS IT TRUE THAT HARVARD HAD AN INVESTMENT IN A FOREST IN SOUTH AMERICA OR OTHERWISE THAT THEY MARK TO MARKET EACH YEAR PAID A FEW MILLION DOLLARS, INCREASED TO SOMETHING APPROACHING A BILLION AND WERE FORCED TO WRITE IT OFF. LET'S ASK THE QUESTION INSTEAD OF PRESENTING IT AS FACT. >> WE GOT TO WRAP UP. >> I HAVE SO MUCH MORE TO SAY. >> I KNOW YOU DO. I WANT TO END WITH THIS. WHEN ALL THIS IS SAID IS DONE, DO YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN AS AN ACTIVIST INVESTOR? DO YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN AS SOMETHING ELSE? I THINK THERE'S A REAL QUESTION SORT OF WHO BILL ACKMAN IS SUPPOSED TO BE IN ALL OF THIS IN THE END? >> I WANT TO BE KNOWN AS A GOOD PERSON WHO CARES ABOUT SOCIETY, A PATRIOTIC PERSON WHO LOVES HIS COUNTRY, A LOYAL ALUM THAT WANTS TO HELP ITS UNIVERSITY, A LOVING HUSBAND, WHO WANTS TO TAKE CARE OF MY BEAUTIFUL WI
