Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Shifts Focus to Microsoft as Its Top AI Investment, Divesting from Alphabet

Key Points

• Pershing Square Capital Management has made Microsoft its largest AI investment, with a position worth $2.3 billion.

• Microsoft reported quarterly revenue of $90 billion, an 18% increase year-over-year, along with net income rising 31% to $35.76 billion.

• Microsoft’s Azure cloud revenue surpassed $100 billion over the past year.

In significant portfolio adjustments during Q2, Bill Ackman’s Pershing trimmed its Amazon stake by 25% and sold its entire position in Alphabet, while acquiring 553,000 additional shares of Microsoft. This brings Ackman’s total Microsoft shares to 6.2 million, constituting 11.9% of the firm’s total stock portfolio.

Microsoft has gained 25% since the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings in July, showcasing strong demand for its Azure services and positive free cash flow of $19.6 billion, which contrasts with negative cash flow reported by competitors like Alphabet and Amazon.