Pershing Square takes $2bn stake in Meta as it exits Hilton

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Holdings (PSH) revealed that it took a substantial new position in Meta Platforms last November at an investor presentation yesterday.

Chief investment officer Ryan Israel said the allocation to the US tech giant was sized at roughly $2bn or 10% of the firm’s capital at the end of last year. 

The £8bn investment trust, which returned 33.9% to shareholders in 2025 − well  ahead of the S&P 500 − also confirmed it had exited a long-running position in Hilton. 

PSH argued that investor fears around the extent of Meta’s heavy artificial intelligence spend are overblown. 

‘We believe Meta’s current share price underappreciates the company’s long-term upside potential from AI and represents a deeply discounted valuation for one of the world’s greatest businesses,’ it said. 

While Meta shares have fallen 7.4% over the past 12 months, the stock is up 11% since Pershing initiated its position, according to the presentation, and has risen a further 3% in 2026. 

Billionaire-investor Ackman, who typically runs a concentrated portfolio of around a dozen core holdings, has been increasing the trust’s exposure to large-cap technology of late, taking up Amazon amid volatility last April. 

The manager has also been focused on reshaping his top holding, real estate giant Howard Hughes − of which he is chief executive − into a diversified holding company in the style of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. 

The trust said 2025 had been ‘pivotal’ for Howard Hughes, which received $1bn of financing from Pershing in December to support its acquisition of insurance company Vantage Group. 

‘We expect Vantage to materially accelerate HHH’s return and growth profile,’ it said yesterday. 

News also circulated late in 2025 that Ackman was revving up a long-anticipated plan to hold an initial public offering for his management, but no further detail has been shared as of yet.