Bill Ackman sells Valeant stake after $2.8-billion loss

Sale ends a near 3-yr saga that first saw Ackman team up with Valeant in a hostile bid for a rival

Bill Ackman has finally conceded defeat on Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. After waging a costly and outspoken public defence of the controversial drugmaker, its once-biggest champion sold his entire stake in the company at a loss and said he will leave the board.

Precise figures are hard to come by, but public filings suggest that Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management may have lost $2.8 billion just on the Valeant shares it owned at the end of 2016, with overall losses likely to be much higher. The shares, already down more than 90 per ent since their August 2015 peak, dropped