Bill Ackman
Pershing Square Capital
Profile & Investment Philosophy
Bill Ackman runs one of the most concentrated books on Wall Street - and from Q2 2026 it is disclosed differently: Pershing Square Capital Management filed a 13F notice, and the holdings now appear in the 13F of its listed parent, Pershing Square Inc. The reported book grew to $19.5 billion across just 14 positions. Ackman added a financial-infrastructure block with new stakes in Visa, Mastercard and S&P Global plus Netflix, sold out of Alphabet, cut Amazon by 25% and topped up Uber (+15%), Meta (+20%) and Restaurant Brands (+14%).
Track Record
Pershing Square Capital has compounded at roughly 16.5% annually since inception in 2004, beating the S&P 500's ~10.2%. After dismal years in 2015-2017 (Valeant disaster, Herbalife short), Ackman returned to form with +58.1% in 2019, +70.2% in 2020 (largely thanks to a $27 million CDS hedge that printed $2.6 billion), +26.9% in 2021, and steady double-digit gains through 2024. AUM grew from $500 million in 2004 to roughly $20 billion in 2026. Pershing Square Holdings (PSH) trades on Amsterdam and London exchanges as a closed-end vehicle with around $15 billion NAV.
Signature Trades
Current Strategy (2026)
Pershing Square runs a concentrated 10-15 stock portfolio, and from Q2 2026 it is disclosed through its listed parent, Pershing Square Inc., after the management company filed a 13F notice. The $19.5 billion book is led by Uber, Brookfield Corp, Microsoft, Amazon, Howard Hughes Holdings, Restaurant Brands and Meta. The quarter's theme was payment and data infrastructure: new positions in Visa, Mastercard and S&P Global, plus Netflix, while Alphabet was sold entirely and Amazon cut 25%. Howard Hughes, Ackman's vehicle for building a diversified holding company, was left untouched at 10% of the book. Ackman remains vocal on rates and fiscal policy, and the strategy is still long-only quality compounders with activist nudges where governance can be improved.
BMI Counter-Take
Ackman is a brilliant analyst with a Twitter problem. The portfolio quality is high — Brookfield, Chipotle, Hilton are genuine compounders — but the public commentary on politics, geopolitics, and rates increasingly makes him a meme stock manager rather than a fund manager. BMI's view: the Nike build looks early but defensible (brand moats heal), and Uber is a sharp call. The pulled USA IPO was a warning signal — retail demand isn't institutional capital. We'd own PSH at a NAV discount but not pay premium for the manager. The CDS playbook is unrepeatable; investors expecting another 96x are buying the wrong dream.
Current Portfolio
LATEST 13F 2026-06-30Latest SEC Form 13F filing. Total portfolio value: $19.5 B. Holdings: 14 positions.
| Security | Shares | Δ vs Prev | Value ($) | Portfolio % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Technologies Inc. | 34.3 M | +14.6% | $2.48 B | 12.7 % |
| Brookfield Corp. | 57.5 M | -3.7% | $2.45 B | 12.6 % |
| Microsoft Corp. | 6.21 M | +9.8% | $2.32 B | 11.9 % |
| Amazon Com Inc. | 8.56 M | -25.2% | $2.04 B | 10.5 % |
| Howard Hughes Holdings Inc. | 27.9 M | — | $1.99 B | 10.2 % |
| Restaurant Brands Intl Inc. | 25.8 M | +14.0% | $1.87 B | 9.62 % |
| Meta Platforms Inc. | 3.20 M | +20.1% | $1.80 B | 9.25 % |
| Visa Inc. | 3.27 M | ★ NEW | $1.12 B | 5.76 % |
| Mastercard Incorporated | 2.12 M | ★ NEW | $1.09 B | 5.61 % |
| S&P Global Inc. | 2.59 M | ★ NEW | $1.06 B | 5.43 % |
SOURCE: SEC Form 13F (2026-08-14). BMI Smart Money Tracker.