Ackman's Bet on Amazon: $2 Billion Stakes in Cloud Growth

Pershing Square, the company led by high-profile investor Bill Ackman, has a significant stake in Amazon. According to Pershing's latest 13F filing, it held over 8.56 million shares of Amazon as of June, which amounts to more than $2 billion and 10.5% of its portfolio.

Ackman believes investors are concerned about the massive capital expenditures Amazon is undertaking for its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. However, he sees this spending as being channeled into sustainable, high-growth activities, particularly in its cloud business, Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS has seen significant growth, with revenue increasing from 20% in both 2024 and 2025 to over 30% so far in 2026. The retail operations are also performing well, with a 15% unit volume growth in the first quarter, the highest growth rate since 2021.

Ackman predicts that Amazon can compound total earnings at a pace of at least 20%, which he believes is achievable given the company's position in the age of AI. While this may seem high for such a large and established company, experts agree that we are just beginning to see the long-term benefits of AI adoption.