Ackman's Pershing Square Sees Opportunity in Amazon

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, holds only about eight to twelve holdings at any given time. The fund focuses on core U.S.-based, large-cap consumer-facing companies and currently owns three artificial intelligence (AI) stocks: Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META).

Ackman's company acquired the Amazon position about a year ago, the Meta position started at the end of 2025, and the Microsoft position was opened in early 2026. Pershing Square previously held shares of Alphabet but closed out its position in the first quarter of 2026 due to a need for capital to buy Microsoft.

Out of these three stocks, Amazon looks like the best buy right now. The company's retail business can nearly double profitability through higher-margin advertising revenue, network density, and automation initiatives. Amazon is the dominant player in two fast-growing businesses and is investing heavily in its infrastructure and data centers.

AWS reported accelerating sales growth, similar to what it saw when it was half its current size. The company's cloud business increased 37% year over year, a major acceleration, and added $4.6 billion in the first quarter alone, which is 80% more than its largest increase by rate.