Bill Ackman has been quietly buying Microsoft since February, when AI fears were dragging the stock
Fortune • • general
Key Points:
- Pershing Square Capital Management, led by billionaire investor Bill Ackman, has established a new "core holding" position in Microsoft, disclosed ahead of the firm's quarterly 13F filing.
- The position was initiated in February after Microsoft’s stock dropped about 10% due to lower-than-expected cloud growth and increased capital spending following Q2 earnings.
- Ackman highlighted that Microsoft’s stock was acquired at a valuation of 21 times forward earnings, which is in line with the market but below Microsoft’s historical average.
- He defended Microsoft’s large $190 billion capital expenditure plan through 2026 as a strategic growth investment rather than a margin risk, and emphasized the undervalued economic interest in OpenAI, estimated at around $200 billion.
- Ackman also noted the resilience and competitive advantage of Microsoft’s 365 productivity suite and viewed the recent restructuring of its AI partnership as a positive shift toward a multi-model architecture for enterprise customers.