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The author Bret Easton Ellis said in 2016 that if his novel American Psycho were updated for this century, its investment banker protagonist could “just as easily be a hedge-funder in New York: Patrick Bateman begets Bill Ackman”.
What could they have in common? Surely not much! A malignant narcissist whose repressed insecurity is channelled through self-serving fantasies about inflicting suffering on those he considers lower value, Bateman is a cartoonishly monstrous work of fiction, whereas Ackman is a formidable activist investor whose fame, fortune and far-reaching influence are products of disputatious certitude. Telling them apart should be easy.
But is it? Ackman has of late been offering a window into his psyche by tweeting at generous length about things other than finance. We’ve mixed up bits of these tweets with extracts from American Psycho to make a shamelessly clickbait quiz, where your task is to tell which is which.
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Further reading:
— Bill Ackman to abandon public battles for quieter investment approach (FT, March 2022)
