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Bill Ackman buys 6 stocks and dumps 3 as he looks beyond the AI boom
Bill Ackman is betting beyond AI with six new stock picks, while dumping Alphabet, Universal Music Group and Hertz as Pershing Square reshapes its portfolio.
Bill Ackman is making a big shift in his investment portfolio in 2026. The billionaire investor, who runs Pershing Square, has made several major changes to his holdings this year. His strategy is usually focused on buying companies and holding them for years, but the recent moves show he is finding new opportunities outside the AI boom.
Ackman raised $5 billion for a new fund called Pershing Square USA. The closed-end fund was launched to make it easier for US investors to invest alongside Ackman. Its portfolio is expected to closely follow the older Pershing Square Holdings fund.
Almost all of that new money is already invested. Ackman said Pershing Square USA had invested about 95% of the $5 billion raised since its launch in late April, according to The Motley Fool. He was able to put the money to work as market volatility pushed some of Pershing Square's existing investments below the prices at which he originally bought them.
Ackman also received fresh capital through Howard Hughes Holdings' acquisition of Vantage Insurance. After the deal closed, Ackman and his team sold Vantage's intermediate- and long-term bonds and replaced them with short-term US Treasuries and an equity portfolio.
Vantage's equity portfolio has already become large. At the end of the second quarter, Vantage had more than $1 billion in common stocks on its balance sheet. Ackman also expects free cash flow from Howard Hughes to add billions more to the equity portfolio over the coming years.
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3 stocks Ackman dumped
Ackman completely exited three stocks: Alphabet, Universal Music Group and Hertz Global. These were among the biggest changes made by Pershing Square over the past few months.
Alphabet was sold to make room for Microsoft. Ackman completed the sale of his Alphabet position after beginning the exit in the previous quarter. Both Alphabet and Microsoft are benefiting from strong demand for AI computing, but Ackman preferred Microsoft because he saw better value in the stock and liked its large enterprise software business.
Ackman also walked away from Universal Music Group after his takeover bid failed. He had argued that moving the company's headquarters to the US could unlock more value for shareholders, according to The Motley Fool. He also believed the move could make the company easier for US investors to buy and help it qualify for major stock indexes. Universal Music Group rejected his takeover proposal, leading Ackman to exit the investment.
Hertz was another complete exit for Pershing Square. Ackman sold the company's shares in July after the hoped-for turnaround failed to happen. The position was relatively small, so its exit had only a limited effect on Pershing Square's overall results.
6 stocks Ackman bought
Ackman used the market volatility to find new investments outside the biggest AI names. In his semi-annual shareholder letter, he said the market had become too focused on AI infrastructure companies, according to The Motley Fool. He believed this created opportunities in companies that had received less attention from investors.
Pershing Square bought six new stocks: Visa, Mastercard, Netflix, S&P Global, Intercontinental Exchange and Alcon. The investments cover financial services, entertainment, financial data, exchanges and healthcare rather than focusing directly on AI infrastructure.
Visa and Mastercard are two of Ackman's new bets on financial companies. Both companies were among the large-cap financial stocks that had struggled during the first half of 2026. Ackman appears to be using the weakness in the sector as an opportunity to buy businesses he believes have long-term value.
S&P Global is another financial-sector investment. The company provides financial information and data, and its stock was also part of the broader group of large financial companies that had delivered negative returns through the first half of the year.
Intercontinental Exchange is the fourth financial-related stock in the new group. The company operates financial exchanges and other market infrastructure businesses. Like Visa, Mastercard and S&P Global, it had been largely overlooked by investors during a year when attention was heavily focused on AI.
Netflix is Ackman's bet on a company outside the financial sector. Netflix's stock had fallen for much of the year as investors worried about its growth. Ackman used that weakness as an opportunity to take a new position.
Alcon is the sixth new investment. The company makes eye-care and eye-surgery products and had continued to report steady revenue growth. Its stock later moved higher after Alcon gave investors expectations for stronger profit margins, which was the type of catalyst Ackman had highlighted in his shareholder letter.
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Ackman's bigger strategy
The six new purchases show that Ackman is looking beyond the AI trade. Instead of putting all of his new capital into companies directly connected to AI infrastructure, he is buying businesses in areas such as payments, financial data, stock exchanges, streaming and medical equipment.
The strategy comes as investors have become heavily concentrated in AI-related stocks. Ackman believes the market's strong focus on AI infrastructure has created pricing opportunities elsewhere, according to The Motley Fool. His new investments are companies that have received less attention but could benefit if their businesses improve or valuations become more attractive.
Pershing Square is also moving into private companies. The investment firm made several private investments using its own balance sheet during the second quarter. These investments are not simply a way to park excess cash.
Ackman plans to use those private investments to build a new fund. Pershing Square Ventures Ltd. is expected to launch later this year and will focus on late-stage private companies. The fund will be much smaller than Pershing Square's public stock portfolios.
The new private fund could give investors access to companies before they go public. Ackman expects it to provide a more shareholder-friendly way for investors to gain exposure to late-stage private businesses before their IPOs.
Buying private companies now also gives Pershing Square a head start. By investing through its own balance sheet before the new fund launches, the firm can build a portfolio of private businesses that could later become part of the fund.
Ackman also sees a research benefit from investing in private companies, according to The Motley Fool. He believes running a venture fund will help Pershing Square understand the technology industry better. It could also help his team identify new competitors and technological threats to companies already held in its public stock portfolios.
The bigger message from Ackman's 2026 moves is clear: he is not simply chasing the AI rally. He has sold Alphabet, replaced it with Microsoft, exited Universal Music Group and Hertz, and added six companies from areas that have been less popular with investors.
For investors watching Ackman, the key names are now Visa, Mastercard, Netflix, S&P Global, Intercontinental Exchange and Alcon. These six stocks represent his latest attempt to find value in parts of the market that have been overshadowed by the AI boom.
At the same time, Ackman is expanding beyond traditional public stocks. The launch of Pershing Square USA, the additional capital from Vantage Insurance and the planned private-company fund give him more money and more ways to invest. The moves suggest 2026 could mark a major change in how Pershing Square deploys capital.
