Bill Ackman is making one of the most significant changes to his investing playbook in years, adding a slate of new names to a portfolio that has long been known for its tight focus and limited number of high-conviction bets.
The billionaire founder of Pershing Square has disclosed fresh stakes in Netflix, Visa, Mastercard, Alcon, Intercontinental Exchange and S&P Global, pointing to what he sees as attractive long-term earnings growth potential across the group.
Ackman began building the positions from the second quarter onward, with the investments set to sit across Pershing Square’s funds, including Pershing Square USA, the newly launched vehicle that started trading on the New York Stock Exchange in April.
The portfolio expansion stands out because Ackman has typically preferred a concentrated investment strategy, often limiting his holdings to roughly a dozen companies or fewer at any given time.
One of the new stock picks carries extra intrigue: Netflix. Ackman has ventured into the streaming stock before, but that earlier bet did not go as planned.
Pershing Square briefly held Netflix shares in 2022, only to exit the position with a loss estimated at about $400 million.
His return to Netflix suggests Ackman now sees a different investment case for the entertainment and streaming giant, with the company’s outlook appearing more compelling than it did during his previous run.
The broader group of new holdings also gives Pershing Square exposure to several major sectors: Visa and Mastercard are leaders in global payments, Alcon is a major eye-care company, Intercontinental Exchange runs financial exchanges and market infrastructure, and S&P Global is a key provider of ratings, data, analytics and financial intelligence.
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has made his biggest portfolio shake-up in years, unveiling six new stock picks
Ackman has said his investment philosophy centers on finding businesses that are relatively simple and predictable, generate strong free cash flow and have durable competitive advantages.
He believes earnings growth is ultimately the most important driver of investment value over the long term. For anyone who has followed Wall Street over the past two decades, Ackman needs little introduction.
The 60-year-old Harvard graduate founded Pershing Square in 2003 and became one of America’s best-known activist investors, famous for taking enormous positions and publicly campaigning for companies to change direction.
His career has included spectacular successes and equally dramatic failures.
He made a name for himself by betting against bond insurer MBIA before the 2008 financial crisis and later became a major shareholder in Canadian Pacific Railway, where he successfully pushed for management changes.
He also became closely associated with Chipotle, where Pershing Square built a substantial position and played a role in the company’s turnaround.
But Ackman’s career has also included painful setbacks, including a disastrous investment in Valeant Pharmaceuticals and a long-running $1 billion-plus bet against Herbalife.
His investment style has evolved since those headline-grabbing battles.
Ackman said several years ago that he was moving away from the more confrontational activist tactics that made him famous and towards a quieter approach, working more closely with management teams.
Ackman briefly owned Netflix in 2022 before Pershing Square sold the position at a loss of around $400 million. He has now returned to the streaming giant
Ackman has also been positioning himself for the enormous investment boom surrounding artificial intelligence
The latest stock purchases come during an unusually busy period for the billionaire. In April, Pershing Square USA began trading publicly in New York, giving investors another way to gain exposure to Ackman’s investment strategy.
But the fund has had a difficult start. Through July, Pershing Square USA was down 3.5 percent for the year, while London-listed Pershing Square Holdings was down 9.2 percent, compared with a 10 percent gain for the S&P 500 including dividends, according to Reuters.
Ackman has also been positioning himself for the enormous investment boom surrounding artificial intelligence.
Earlier this year, he added Microsoft after its shares fell following an earnings report, arguing that investors were underestimating the value of its huge AI investments. The stock has since rebounded.
His wider portfolio has included heavyweight names such as Amazon, Meta, Uber, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, alongside Microsoft.
The six new additions therefore represent a significant broadening of the portfolio beyond some of his best-known holdings.
Perhaps the most eye-catching move is Netflix. Ackman previously bought into the company in January 2022, but sold just a few months later after a dramatic plunge in the shares, locking in a loss of roughly $400 million.
This time, he is betting that Netflix has emerged as a winner from the brutal streaming wars. The company has a huge global subscriber base, strong cash generation and a growing advertising business, while competitors have struggled with the enormous cost of producing content.
Ackman’s moves are closely watched because he has built a reputation for making concentrated bets that can move markets, while millions of investors follow his commentary online.
And after a difficult start to the year for his funds, Ackman is clearly betting that these six new names can help turn things around.
