Ackman's Pershing Square Cashes Out of Nike Stake After Roughly 32% Gain --

By David Benoit

William Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP cashed out of its brief holding in Nike Inc. in recent weeks, for a profit of around $100 million.

The activist had taken the stake in the fourth quarter, it disclosed in January, but Pershing Square intended to keep it as a passive bet on a company it believed was undervalued. After the stock jumped some 32% from Pershing Square's purchasing costs, it sold the stake, people familiar with the matter said.

Pershing Square had owned about 5.8 million shares at the end of 2017, it had disclosed, which would mean the bet scored about $100 million in profits. The exact size couldn't be determined given the potential for other trading that wasn't disclosed.

This year is critical for Pershing Square and Mr. Ackman. As a result of bad bets on companies including Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Herbalife Ltd., the firm has suffered three straight years of declines that have spurred investor withdrawals and dragged down assets. It needs wins to convince remaining investors to hang around. The publicly traded Pershing Square Holdings Ltd., which closely tracks his private funds, had lost 6.2% this year through Tuesday with bets on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Mondelez International Inc. and Automatic Data Processing Inc. all in the red.

Sara Germano contributed to this article.

Write to David Benoit at david.benoit@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 22, 2018 13:50 ET (17:50 GMT)

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