New York Times – William A. Ackman makes a lot of noise for someone in the hush-hush business of hedge funds. He harangues executives, goads boards, talks this stock up and that one down — all in search of profit.

On Thursday, someone listened. After a campaign by Mr. Ackman that had lasted for months, one of the nation’s largest operators of shopping malls, General Growth Properties, filed for bankruptcy protection.

Now Mr. Ackman, who runs a hedge fund called Pershing Square Capital Management, is positioning his fund to pick up the pieces. Pershing controls 25 percent of General Growth and will play a crucial role in restructuring the company. If Mr. Ackman gets his way, he and his investors could walk off with hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

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New York Times – In a move that could force similar changes at other money-losing hedge funds, the well-known fund manager William A. Ackman is cutting his fees and allowing investors to take what is left of their money from one of the funds he manages.

Mr. Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management, is suffering huge losses on a fund he started nearly two years ago to bet solely on the rise of the stock of the discount retailer Target Corporation.

The fund, called Pershing Square IV, is down nearly 90 percent this year, and Mr. Ackman has been feeling pressure from investors who want to take their money out. In an effort to mollify those investors, Mr. Ackman apologized for the losses in a letter sent on Sunday. He personally committed $25 million to the fund to help pay investors.

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Tags: ackman, discount retailer, investors, losses, money, new york times, pershing square, pershing square capital management, pershing-square-capital, stock, target corporation