Bill Ackman is a hedge fund investor, and Tiger Woods is a professional golfer. The sources reviewed show no direct personal or business partnership between them. The only indirect thread is Nike, which sponsored Woods for 27 years and which Ackman’s firm, Pershing Square, owned shares in at times between 2017 and early 2025. Owning a company’s stock is not the same as investing in an athlete.
Why Are Bill Ackman and Tiger Woods Mentioned Together?
The two names appear together mainly because of Nike. Woods was one of the brand’s most recognizable athletes, and Ackman’s fund reportedly invested in Nike. Searchers often assume that overlap means a link between the men themselves.
Wealth is a second reason. Both are billionaires in public rankings, and readers often search famous rich people in pairs. That shared search interest does not show a relationship.
Did Bill Ackman Invest in Tiger Woods?
No direct investment has been established in the sources reviewed. Pershing Square’s Nike shares were an investment in Nike, a publicly traded company. They were not an investment in Woods or his personal ventures.
Nike Shares vs. an Athlete Partnership
Three things are easy to confuse:
- Buying Nike stock means owning a small slice of the company.
- Sponsoring an athlete means a company pays an athlete to represent its brand.
- Investing in an athlete means putting money into that person’s own business, such as an apparel line.
Only the last one would link Ackman to Woods personally, and no evidence for it turned up. Even a large Nike position would not give Ackman any say in Woods’s contracts or businesses.
Who Is Bill Ackman?
Ackman is the founder and CEO of Pershing Square, an investment firm. He has led the firm since its founding in 2003 and has chaired Pershing Square Inc. since June 2024. He is known for taking large, public positions in a small number of companies. You can read his background on Pershing Square’s official profile.
Ackman is also a keen amateur tennis player. Reuters has described him as a passionate player often photographed in Nike gear. That is a tennis link to Nike, not a golf link to Woods.
Who Is Tiger Woods?
Woods is one of the most successful golfers in history. He has won 15 major championships and 82 PGA Tour titles, tying the all-time record. His income has long come more from endorsements and business ventures than from prize money.
Forbes certified Woods as a billionaire in 2022, and it estimated his net worth at $1.5 billion in 2026. Forbes put Ackman’s net worth at $9.4 billion in coverage from mid-2025. Treat both as dated estimates, not audited figures.
What Is the Role of Nike in the Story?
Nike is the only documented bridge, and it is a thin one. The timeline below comes from news reports on regulatory filings.
Woods and Nike. Woods’s 27-year relationship with Nike ended at the close of 2023. He then launched his own brand, Sun Day Red, which TaylorMade produces. Nike plays no part in that new line.
Pershing Square and Nike. Pershing Square first invested in Nike in late 2017 and made about $100 million on it. In the second quarter of 2024, it built a new position of roughly 3 million shares, about 0.19% of the company. By the following filing, the fund held 18.8 million shares after a 15% increase.
What happened in 2025. Pershing said it converted its Nike shares into deep in-the-money call options in early 2025. Those options do not appear in 13F filings. Other coverage describes this as the firm selling out of its Nike stock in the first quarter of 2025.
The timeline overlaps with the end of Woods’s Nike deal only loosely. Ackman’s 2024 purchase came after the Woods split was announced, so it was not tied to Woods at all.
Are Bill Ackman and Tiger Woods Friends or Business Partners?
The sources reviewed do not establish a friendship or a business partnership. That is a narrower claim than saying they have never met, which nobody can prove either way.
A shareholder and a sponsored athlete can sit on opposite sides of the same brand without ever speaking. A regulatory filing shows what a fund owned on one date. As a Form 13F shows only a position, it says nothing about access, influence, or agreement.
What the Evidence Shows
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| Ackman founded and leads Pershing Square | Confirmed by the firm’s official profile |
| Woods is a 15-time major champion | Reported consistently |
| Pershing Square held Nike shares in 2017 and 2024 | Reported from regulatory filings |
| Pershing Square holds Nike shares today | Not established; shares left 13F reporting in early 2025 |
| Ackman invested in Woods personally | Not established in the sources reviewed |
| Ackman and Woods are partners or friends | No documented evidence found |
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Bill Ackman invest directly in Tiger Woods?
No direct investment has been established in the sources reviewed. Pershing Square’s reported investment was in Nike’s stock, not in Woods or his companies.
Did Bill Ackman invest in Nike?
Yes, at times. Reports show Pershing Square invested in Nike in 2017 and again in 2024. The fund’s shares dropped out of its 13F filings in early 2025, and the firm described converting them to call options.
Are Bill Ackman and Tiger Woods business partners?
No documented partnership was found. Their only shared link is a company, Nike, and the timelines barely overlap.
What is Bill Ackman known for?
He is known for founding Pershing Square and for large, publicly argued investment positions. He is also a noted amateur tennis player.
What is Tiger Woods known for outside golf?
Woods is known for endorsement deals, his Sun Day Red apparel line, and other business ventures. Forbes counts him among the few athletes with a billionaire-level net worth.
Conclusion
Bill Ackman and Tiger Woods work in different worlds, and no direct relationship between them is documented. The one indirect thread is Nike, where Ackman’s fund held shares at various points and Woods was a sponsored athlete for decades. A shareholder and an endorser of the same brand are not partners.