- The Pershing Square hedge fund manager is wagering his own money in a bid to build a diversified financial conglomerate that could rival the life’s work of Warren Buffett. The 94 year-old Oracle of Omaha bought into a dying textile producer 60 years ago, transforming it into the $1 trillion behemoth it is today.
Billionaire Bill Ackman may be one of the best-known hedge fund managers on Wall Street, but he’s no Warren Buffett.
He hopes to change that now as the investor behind Pershing Square is willing to stake $900 million on a bet he can become the 94-year-old Oracle of Omaha’s spiritual successor by forging what Ackman pitches as a “modern-day Berkshire Hathaway.”
Instead of the textile producer Buffett bought into in 1965, Ackman’s vessel is real estate company Howard Hughes Holdings (HHH). After spinning off a collection of loosely affiliated assets into the exchange-listed Seaport Entertainment Group last July, it now focuses on large condominium developments like the 60-acre Ward Village on Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach.
Under Ackman’s plan, HHH would issue 10 million shares of newly minted stock at $90 apiece, a tidy 12% premium to Tuesday’s closing price. This equity would then be purchased by Ackman and his team, collectively raising their overall direct and indirect stake to 48% of the company.
HHH would then function as a “long-term platform” for acquiring and managing controlling interests in public and private operating companies. Ackman himself would serve as its CEO and chairman, while two of his chief lieutenants would assume senior roles.
I first learned about Warren Buffett from a college classmate when I was 20 years old. Four years later, I read my first Berkshire Hathaway shareholder letter and I was inspired to become an investor.
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) February 18, 2025
When I entered the investment business at 26 and started a small hedge fund…
“The $900 million cash infusion will enable HHH to immediately begin to pursue the acquisition of controlling interests in public and private companies as part of its new strategy of becoming a diversified holding company,” Pershing Square Holdco LP said in a statement on Tuesday.
Howard Hughes Holdings confirmed the offer, adding that a special committee made up of independent directors will now evaluate the proposal and determine the appropriate course of action.
Ackman’s own skin in the game this time
Ackman’s gambit isn’t just another Chipotle, Herbalife, or MBIA, where he marshals investor cash to buy a stake big enough to agitate for a breakup, management reshuffle, or asset strip before liquidating his interest for a profit and moving on to the next undervalued corporation.
HHH would represent a deeply personal wager as the speculator, worth roughly $9.5 billion, would have his own skin in the game. The cash would come entirely from Pershing Square Holdco, which he and his management team own 90% of following a recent stock sale.
Ackman’s better-known hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management LP, in which his team has a 28% interest by comparison, would not be involved beyond retaining its existing 18.9 million shares.
In fact, his investors—known in the business as limited partners or LPs—will even be diluted if the transaction proceeds, as their stake would shrink from nearly 38% to just 31% under the deal.
Yet the planned acquisition would represent an elegant solution to Ackman’s problems. He’s been trying to crystallize value from HHH for months now, only to see the share price fail to ignite. In total the stock has shed over a third of its value during the past 10 years.
By risking his own cash, Howard Hughes Holdings might finally provide a potential return on that initial investment for Pershing Square’s LPs that might typically be ultrahigh-net-worth individuals as well as pension funds, charitable trusts, and university endowments.
‘A lot better than a dying textile company’
In the process, Ackman could pitch to Buffett’s devoted following of retail investors that HHH is the next Berkshire Hathaway, the world’s 11th largest company by market cap and the most valuable financial institution, worth $1 trillion.
Omaha’s most famous son famously didn’t found the investment holding he has controlled for the past 60 years, either, but rather bought into Berkshire Hathaway when it still manufactured textiles.
The Pershing Square/Howard Hughes Holdings presentation will play here tomorrow, Wednesday, at 9am ESThttps://t.co/y6RUiazyJb
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) February 18, 2025
From the ashes of that business, he transformed it into a financial vehicle that actively manages stakes in corporations as diverse as Coca-Cola, General Re, and Dairy Queen—and more recently Apple.
“A big part of the appeal of Berkshire is that anyone who could afford one share, about $20 back in the early 1960s, could participate in the compounding of that value over time,” Ackman posted to social media on Tuesday.
The core property development operations of HHH would meanwhile continue under current CEO David O’Reilly with the same strategic direction.
In fact, Ackman even went so far as to claim that HHH—with its strategy of focusing on miniature cities like Ward Village, which the real estate sector calls “master-planned communities”—is healthier than Berkshire Hathaway was when Buffett first took control.
“It’s a lot better than a dying textile company,” Ackman wrote.
