Overview
- Pershing Square disclosed Friday it had built a new Microsoft stake and labeled it a core holding, sending the stock up as much as 4% intraday.
- Ackman said he started buying in February after a post-earnings slide, paying roughly 21 times forward earnings.
- The firm funded the purchase by selling its Alphabet position, turning a long-held Google bet into a Microsoft bet.
- He cites the resilience of Microsoft 365 and 40% Azure growth, plus a 27% economic interest in OpenAI, to argue the market is undervaluing the franchise.
- Other heavyweight funds took the opposite side, with TCI and Third Point cutting Microsoft exposure as its AI buildout and rival advances from Google and Amazon fuel uncertainty.