Bill Ackman is one of the most closely followed investment managers on Wall Street. His investment strategy typically involves long-term buy-and-hold investments that can sit in Pershing Square's (PS -0.42%) portfolios for years. But 2026 has proven to be a transformative year for the fund manager and its portfolios.
Not only did Ackman launch a new fund last quarter, but he also made a major shake-up in his investments for the company. Here are all the moves Ackman and his team made over the last few months.
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An injection of fresh capital
Ackman successfully raised $5 billion to launch Pershing Square USA (PSUS +0.41%) last quarter. The closed-end fund makes it easier for U.S. investors to invest alongside Ackman. The portfolio in Pershing Square USA will closely match that of the long-standing Pershing Square Holdings fund.
Ackman says the fund has already invested 95% of the $5 billion raised since launching in late April. He benefited from a volatile market in which some of Pershing Square's largest investments traded at a discount to the prices at which he bought them in the existing Pershing Square Holdings fund.
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Ackman also got new capital to manage from Howard Hughes Holdings' (HHH -2.10%) acquisition of Vantage Insurance. Upon closing the acquisition of the insurance company, Ackman and his team immediately liquidated its intermediate and long-term bonds and replaced them with short-term Treasuries and an equity portfolio. As of the end of the second quarter, Vantage held over $1 billion in common equities on its balance sheet. Ackman expects Howard Hughes' free cash flow to contribute billions more in capital to the equity portfolio over the coming years.
3 stock sales
Ackman fully exited three positions over the last few months.
- Alphabet
- Universal Music Group
- Hertz Global
Ackman exited Alphabet, completing its sale from the previous quarter. He sold the large position to make room for what he felt was an even better investment opportunity with Microsoft. Both companies are seeing results driven by booming demand for AI compute, but Ackman preferred Microsoft for valuation and its enterprise software business.
Ackman exited his position in Universal Music Group after the company rejected his takeover bid. Ackman felt moving the company's headquarters to the United States would unlock shareholder value, making it easier to invest in and eligible for popular indexes.
He exited Hertz in July. The turnaround play never materialized for Pershing Square, but it remained a relatively small position in the portfolio, so the impact on overall results was minimal.
6 new stock purchases
In his semi-annual letter to shareholders, Ackman noted that significant volatility and the market's over-indexing toward AI infrastructure providers have created ample opportunities to deploy capital into new investments. "We are fortunate in that the current market backdrop has created a highly attractive environment for Pershing Square," he wrote.
To that end, he bought six new investments across his funds' portfolios.
- Visa
- Mastercard
- Netflix
- S&P Global
- Intercontinental Exchange
- Alcon
These investments are across various industries that have been largely ignored by the market so far this year. Large-cap financial stocks (Visa, Mastercard, S&P Global, Intercontinental Exchange) had a negative return through the first half of the year. Netflix has seen its stock price fall throughout most of the year, as concerns about its growth weigh on the stock. Alcon's eye surgery equipment has seen steady revenue growth, but it wasn't until it shared expectations for stronger margins (the exact catalyst Ackman wrote about in his letter to shareholders) that its stock price jumped.
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Private company investments
Beyond the company's publicly traded funds, Pershing Square also made several private investments using its balance sheet last quarter. This isn't just an opportunistic use of cash on the balance sheet; the investment management company plans to use the investments to seed a new closed-end fund later this year that focuses on private companies.
Pershing Square Ventures, Ltd will launch later this year and will be relatively small compared to its public equity portfolios. Ackman expects the new fund to offer a more shareholder-friendly way to invest in late-stage private businesses before their IPOs. Taking the opportunity to invest in private companies earlier by using Pershing Square's balance sheet is a great way to ensure the new fund has a portfolio of the best available private investments.
Ackman also believes that running a venture fund will improve the research and decision-making for the company's public equity portfolios. He and the investment managers will gain new insights into the technology landscape and better understand the competitive threats posed by up-and-coming businesses to existing holdings in Pershing Square's portfolio.
