Amazon, Alphabet and Hertz: what billionaire Bill Ackman bought in the second quarter

Investor Bill Ackman, known for his bet against U.S. government bonds on the eve of the coronavirus outbreak that brought him $2.6 billion in a month, bought shares of two "Magnificent Seven" companies in the second quarter of 2025. From the report on Form 13F, published on August 14, it follows, in particular, that the hedge fund Ekman Pershing Square invested in Amazon for $ 1.3 billion. The fund explained to investors in May that he took advantage of the fall in securities amid the introduction of duties. Now Amazon is among the five largest assets of Pershing, but the main remains Uber.

- A new stock in Pershing Square Capital Management's portfolio in the second quarter was Amazon: the fund bought more than 5.82 million securities of the Internet retailer for about $1.28 million. Now they occupy 9.3% of Ekman's portfolio, and the position itself became the fifth by weight.

- Pershing increased its stake in shares of Google's parent company Alphabet by 21%, buying approximately $163 million worth of Class A securities. Together with Class C securities, the company's total stake in the portfolio rose to 15.1% with a combined value of about $2 billion. Both bets on the "Magnificent Seven" companies show that Ackman's strategy in the second quarter was to build up positions on long-term AI leaders, even if the market is "still digesting their growth stories in the short term," according to GuruFocus.

- Eckman also increased its stake in U.S. car rental company Hertz Global Holdings, which owns the Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty brands, by 2%.

- In addition, the fund bought shares in hotel chain Hilton Worldwide Holdings and Canadian investment holding company Brookfield Corporation.

- In the second quarter, Ackman got rid of its entire stake in Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canada's largest railroad.

- Among the 11 positions of the fund, Uber Technologies remained the leader - it makes up a fifth of Pershing's portfolio. The stake in this company did not change in the second quarter, but the package went up in price - from $2.2 billion, as the report for the first quarter showed, almost to $2.8 billion. Uber shares have added 53% this year.

The fact that Ackman decided to invest in Amazon, he revealed back in May. Pershing called Amazon an "outstanding business" and said he bought the stock at an "exceptionally attractive price" as it fell more than 30 percent amid Donald Trump's announcement of new duties. Ackman bet that the online retailer's profits would continue to grow as the impact of trade restrictions would not be as painful as consumers initially feared, Reuters explained .

"The most significant move is Amazon," Ryan Israel, the fund's chief investment officer, said in a May 23 conference call. - "We believed the company would be able to overcome any slowdown in its cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services, and we didn't believe the fees would have a material impact on revenue in the retail business.

Since April 4, when Amazon's securities were at their lows, they have risen nearly 32% as of the close on Aug. 15.

According to Eckman, he had to sell his stake in Canadian Pacific railroad network in order to invest in Amazon. The investor spoke warmly of the company and noted that he got rid of the securities "with great regret". In 2022, the billionaire bought a new stake in Canadian Pacific, returning to one of his most profitable investments, as he expected that railroad companies will grow due to the reduction of carbon emissions and the return of production from abroad in the United States and Mexico, recalls Reuters.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor