Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management set a record return on investment for the second year in a row in 2020, and a bet in the early days of the pandemic helped the fund achieve a return of up to 70%.

The billionaire investor said that in December alone, Pershing Plaza's net yield reached 4.6%. Its full-year performance outperformed the S&P 500 index by 16%, and also surpassed the fund's 2019 record of about 58%.

After two consecutive years of impressive results, it can be described as a strong comeback for Ackman. The hedge fund previously suffered losses for three consecutive years. RightValeantPharmaceuticals Ltd. lost a lot of money on its bet, rightHerbalifeThe shorting operation also ended in failure, and it also faced various other challenges. After being outperformed by automated quantitative strategies for many years, the returns of hedge funds managed by real people were impressive this year.

Pershing Plaza's strong performance in 2020 was mainly due to Ackman's allocation of a credit hedging position before the COVID-19 crisis broke out and the market sell-off that followed. Ackman said in April that he was very concerned about the potential impact of the coronavirus and even considered liquidating his entire portfolio, but then chose a credit hedging strategy.

By the time of sale in March, the bet had returned approximately $2.6 billion to Pershing Square, about 100 times the size of the initial investment. Ackman used the proceeds to bet on economic recovery, increased his holdings in the portfolio of companies, and renewed interestStarbucksWait for the company to invest.

Ackman's attention then turned to his blank check company, Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd. In July, the special purpose acquisition company raised $4 billion through an IPO, plus the $1 billion promised by Pershing Plaza, and is currently looking for a suitable private company to list it. Ackman has partnered with Airbnb Inc. , Stripe Inc. and others held discussions.