Pershing Square expands portfolio with six new holdings in biggest overhaul in years

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Pershing Square adds new holdings

Highlights

Pershing Square added six new holdings—Netflix, Visa, Mastercard, Alcon, Intercontinental Exchange, and S&P Global—in its largest portfolio overhaul in years starting Q2.
Pershing Square USA is down 3.5% and London-listed Pershing Square Holdings is down 9.2% YTD through July, underperforming the S&P 500's 13% gain.
Ackman exited a $1.5 billion Universal Music Group stake after a rejected $65 billion takeover bid and listed both his hedge fund and Pershing Square USA on NYSE.

New positions and investment rationale

As reported by Reuters, Ackman said on Thursday that he acquired the shares for his funds starting in the second quarter. Alongside Netflix, the new holdings include Visa, Mastercard, eye care company Alcon, exchange operator Intercontinental Exchange and financial data provider S&P Global.

Ackman said he sees the companies' earnings as positioned for strong growth, which he views as the main driver of investment value over time. He is expected to discuss the investments on an analyst call later on Thursday, while the positions are likely to surface on Friday in 13-F filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission by fund managers holding stakes in U.S. companies at the end of the prior quarter.

Netflix marks a return to a stock Ackman held briefly in 2022 before selling at a loss. Earlier this year, he also added Microsoft after a share-price drop following an earnings report, arguing the company would recover as investors recognized the value of its artificial intelligence spending.

Performance pressures and broader strategy

Ackman's latest moves come as his funds underperform the broader U.S. market this year despite a strong long-term record. Through July, Pershing Square USA is down 3.5% for the year and London-listed Pershing Square Holdings is down 9.2%, compared with a 13% gain for the S&P 500.

His portfolio, which typically holds no more than a dozen companies, also includes Uber Technologies, Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, among others. The scale of the additions makes this the largest portfolio overhaul in years for Ackman, whose stock selections are closely followed by professional investors and his 2.7 million followers on X.

The changes cap an active year for the fund manager, who listed both his hedge fund and Pershing Square USA on the New York Stock Exchange and exited an estimated $1.5 billion position in Universal Music Group after the company rejected his $65 billion takeover bid. Ackman, once known for high-profile activist campaigns, has said he now favors a quieter value-investing approach built on more cordial engagement with management teams.

Our earlier coverage of Amazon’s recent trading backdrop highlighted how the stock has been moving sideways after its post-earnings jump, as investors balance strong revenue growth against heavy spending on data centers and AI infrastructure. We also discussed an options “jade lizard” setup built around the view that, with few near-term catalysts before the next report, Amazon could remain range-bound while the market digests the scale and payoff timeline of its capex plans.

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