Billionaire Bill Ackman doubles down on these stocks in Q2

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman has been busy putting billions of dollars to work after completing one of the biggest milestones in the history of Pershing Square.

In its second-quarter update, Pershing Square highlighted the $5 billion initial public offering of PSUS, the New York Stock Exchange listing of Pershing Square USA, Ltd. (PSUS), and the deployment of the new fund’s capital.

“In summary, it was a highly productive few months since our IPO,” Ackman said in a shareholder letter. 

Pershing Square has deployed more than 95% of PSUS’s capital across 14 investments. That includes six new positions: Visa (V), Mastercard (MA), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), Netflix (NFLX), Alcon (ALC), and S&P Global (SPGI).

“They are simple, predictable, and free cash flow-generative, with strong competitive positions, minimal financial leverage and capital markets dependency, and are run by excellent management teams,” Ackman said about the companies he invested in.

Bill Ackman’s 14 holdings as of Q2 2026

• Uber Technologies (UBER) | 12.72% | $2,476.98 million

• Brookfield Corporation (BN) | 12.58% | $2,448.12 million

• Microsoft (MSFT) | 11.89% | $2,315.23 million

• Amazon (AMZN) | 10.49% | $2,041.11 million

• Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH) | 10.23% | $1,991.14 million

• Restaurant Brands International (QSR) | 9.62% | $1,872.30 million

• Meta Platforms (META) | 9.25% | $1,800.31 million

• Visa (V) | 5.76% | $1,122.07 million

• Mastercard (MA) | 5.61% | $1,091.22 million

• S&P Global (SPGI) | 5.43% | $1,056.09 million

• Netflix (NFLX) | 4.80% | $934.02 million

• Pershing Square USA (PSUS) | 0.77% | $149.52 million

• Seaport Entertainment Group (SEG) | 0.69% | $133.63 million

• Hertz Global Holdings (HTZ) | 0.17% | $33.96 million

Ackman sees opportunity beyond the AI trade

Ackman also pointed to an increasingly concentrated stock market as a source of investment opportunities.

The S&P 500 gained roughly 10% during the first six months of the year, but Ackman noted that nearly 85% of those gains came from just two sectors: semiconductors and technology hardware and equipment.

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Those two sectors represent about 22% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization but only 8% of its companies.

Meanwhile, Ackman noted more than 90% of S&P 500 companies collectively accounted for less than 2% of the index’s overall return, according to Pershing Square. Nearly 40% of the companies in the index posted negative share-price performance.

For Ackman, that gap created an opportunity. He said the market backdrop allowed Pershing Square to deploy nearly $5 billion of PSUS capital since the IPO at what it considers attractive valuations.

Ackman has a broader goal of generating strong returns over long periods rather than chasing short-term market moves.

“Since our inception, we have achieved a gross return of 20% per annum,” Ackman said, adding that his long-term goal is to generate gross annual returns above 20% across the funds and companies it manages and invests in.

What’s Bill Ackman’s strategy?

Ackman said in a 2025 post on X (the former Twitter) that he first learned about Warren Buffett when he was 20 years old. Shortly after, he was inspired to become an investor. 

Years ago, Ackman was known as an activist investor, taking large stakes in companies and publicly pushing management to make changes. His most famous moves included a successful $2.6 billion gain from Canadian Pacific Railway and a disastrous $1 billion short bet against Herbalife.

Related: Veteran analyst rethinks Palantir stock after earnings

But starting in 2022, Ackman pivoted, saying that he had permanently retired from activist short-selling. Now he wants to build a “modern-day version of Berkshire,” saying in the X post that he plans to “adopt similar, long-term, shareholder-oriented principles to Berkshire” and hold the stock for the long haul.

“Fortunately, our starting base of assets won’t be a dying textile company, but a very good business,” Ackman added.

On Aug. 12, Pershing Square reported an earnings beat for its first full quarter after going public. 

The firm recently made several private investments using its balance sheet, and these will form a portion of the initial Pershing Square Ventures portfolio.

“We want to give that opportunity to the average person on the street, so to speak, and that’s what we intend to do with Pershing Square Ventures,” Ackman said on the Q2 2026 earnings call. “And we’re going to seed it with investments so people will know what they’re investing in.”

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This story was originally published by TheStreet on Aug 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the Investing section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.