Ackman Pours Billions into Payments Infrastructure

Pershing Square Capital Management, led by Bill Ackman, has made a significant investment in Visa. The fund's 13F filing shows a new $1.12 billion stake in Visa, with 3.27 million shares representing 5.4% of its portfolio.

This is not an isolated move; Pershing Square also opened positions in Mastercard and S&P Global, worth about $1.09 billion and $1.06 billion respectively. This suggests a deliberate view on where financial infrastructure is headed.

Visa's strong performance recently may have contributed to Ackman's decision. In its fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings call, CEO Ryan McInerney reported net revenue rose 14% year over year to $11.6 billion, with earnings per share up 11%. Quarterly payments volume grew 10% in constant dollars, crossing $4 trillion for the first time in company history.

Pershing Square's stake places Visa among its larger holdings, behind Uber, Brookfield Underwriting, Microsoft, and Amazon by portfolio weight. This investment signals conviction that infrastructure businesses will continue to compound.