Billionaire investor Bill Ackman says SVB was not a bailout: 'The people who screwed up will bear the consequences'

• US regulators are guaranteeing depositors' funds after the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed.
• But this isn't "a bailout in any form," said billionaire investor Bill Ackman.
• The US government is protecting depositors and not the management or shareholders, he said.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said the US government's move to guarantee deposits in the aftermath of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank's failure is not a "not a bailout in any form"

In a long tweet on Sunday, the founder and CEO of hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management said that the government injected money in the form of preferred stock into banks during the Global Financial Crisis from 2007 to 2009, protecting bondholders and shareholders — but it's not the same this time.

This time, the depositors are being protected via the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance program that has been funded by premiums paid by banks, he said, adding: "The fund will recoup any losses by assessing more premiums on the banks." 

—Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) March 13, 2023

In his tweet, Ackman even applauded US authorities' intervention, saying the government "did the right thing for the country" by protecting depositors.

"The people who screwed up will bear the consequences. The investors who didn't adequately oversee their banks will be zeroed out and the bondholders will suffer a similar fate," Ackman added.

But he also issued a warning — "More banks will likely fail despite the intervention, but we now have a clear roadmap for how the gov't will manage them."

He said the government sent a message that depositors can trust the banking system. "Without this confidence, we are left with three or possibly four too-big-to-fail banks where the taxpayer is explicitly on the hook, and our national system of community and regional banks is toast," he added. 

Ackman's tweet was viewed over a million times within its first two hours on Twitter.

The legendary investor has been quite vocal about the wild ride in the US banking industry amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. US regulators shut down both banks over the last few days.

On Thursday, he called on the US government to consider a "highly dilutive" bailout of Silicon Valley Bank, adding that the bailout should protect depositors rather than shielding the bank's management and shareholders.

On Saturday morning, he again called on the government to step in and protect depositors, saying authorities had "about 48 hours" to do so.