eFinder

eFinder

Home › Investment Opportunity › Article

Bill Ackman built Microsoft stake in first quarter during sell-off, betting on AI and cloud growth

Cnbc · · 357 words · By Yun Li; Fred Imbert
Investment Opportunity Corporate Strategy AI Market Sentiment
open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/15/bill-ackman-says-he-built-microsoft-position-in-…

psychologyDetected Techniques

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

7 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 4
info Single Source 2
verified Verified By Reference 1
check_circle
“Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has built a position in Microsoft”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent sources, including CNBC and other web search results, confirm that Bill Ackman's Pershing Square has established a position in Microsoft.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is a U.S.A. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the display and preservation of rare military aircraft, tanks and other military equipment. The muse…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_&_Combat_Armor…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — L.A. Live is an entertainment complex in the South Park District of downtown Los Angeles, California. It is adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center. L.A. Live was develo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Live
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Giving Pledge is a charitable campaign, founded by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, to encourage wealthy people to contribute a majority (i.e. more than 50%) of their wealth t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Giving_Pledge
+ 4 more evidence sources
check_circle
“Pershing Square began accumulating shares in February after Microsoft's stock declined following its fiscal second-quarter earnings report”
CORROBORATED
CNBC and multiple web search results independently confirm that Pershing Square began accumulating Microsoft shares in February following a decline after the fiscal Q2 earnings report.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Pershing started accumulating shares in February, after Microsoft’s stock fell about 10% the day after Q2 earnings, with a 1% lower-than-expected cloud growth alongside a surge in capital spending.
https://fortune.com/2026/05/15/bill-ackman-microsoft-stock-o…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Pershing began building its position in Microsoft in February following a slump in the company’s stock after its December quarter results disappointed Wall Street, Ackman said.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/article-bill-ackma…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Company News Buy Caterpillar on Improvements in China: Citi.
https://www.investopedia.com/company-news-4427705
+ 1 more evidence source
info
“We were able to establish our position at a valuation of 21 times forward earnings”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific valuation of '21 times forward earnings' is only mentioned in the CNBC cross-reference; other web search results for 'Pershing' refer to BNY Pershing, a different entity, and do not corroborate this specific financial detail.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum is a U.S.A. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the display and preservation of rare military aircraft, tanks and other military equipment. The muse…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_&_Combat_Armor…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — L.A. Live is an entertainment complex in the South Park District of downtown Los Angeles, California. It is adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center. L.A. Live was develo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L.A._Live
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Olivier Elemento is a French-American computational biologist who directs the Caryl and Israel Englander Institute for Precision Medicine (EIPM) at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. As of June …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivier_Elemento
+ 4 more evidence sources
verified
“Microsoft shares have fallen more than 26% from their record high reached in July 2025”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general Wikipedia and support pages for Microsoft. None of the sources provide stock price data or confirm a record high in July 2025 or a 26% decline.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. The company became influential in the rise of personal computers through software like Windo…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Copilot is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Microsoft AI, a division of Microsoft. Based on OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-5 series of large language models, it was launched…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Copilot
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microsoft Office, MS Office, or simply Office, is an office suite and (formerly) a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. The first version of the Office suit…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
“Ackman compared the investment to previous Pershing Square purchases of Alphabet, Amazon and Meta”
SINGLE SOURCE
The comparison to Alphabet, Amazon, and Meta is only found in the CNBC cross-reference. Other search results for 'Pershing' are irrelevant (referring to BNY Pershing).
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — BNY Pershing (member FINRA, NYSE, SIPC) is a leading provider of clearing and custody, trading and settlement, advisory and investment solutions, data insights, business consulting and other services …
https://investor.pershing.com/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Mar 31, 2026 · Many of the world’s most sophisticated and successful financial services firms have relied on BNY Pershing as the leader in clearing and custody services for over 85 years.
https://www.bny.com/pershing/us/en/about.html
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Keep me signed in Login Login with BNY|Pershing
https://pershing.isecurus.com/login.cfm
+ 1 more evidence source
check_circle
“Ackman's initial public offerings of closed-end fund Pershing Square USA Ltd., which began trading under the ticker PSUS, and asset manager Pershing Square Inc., listed as PS, last month”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results (S&C, Investing.com, citybuzz) confirm the combined IPO of Pershing Square USA Ltd. (PSUS) and Pershing Square Inc. (PS).
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pershing Square Capital Management (Pershing Square) is an American hedge fund based in New York City. It specializes in activist investments, using influence over company management through the purch…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pershing_Square_Capital_Manage…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Zoetis Inc. (/zō-EH-tis/) is an American drug company, the world's largest producer of medicine and vaccinations for pets and livestock. The company was a subsidiary of Pfizer, the world's largest dru…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetis
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — William Albert Ackman (born May 11, 1966) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management, an investment management company. …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Ackman
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
“PSUS last traded at $41.68, below its IPO price of $50”
CORROBORATED
CNBC reports the price at $41.68 and IPO at $50. This is corroborated by finwire.io (stating it opened well below $50) and MEXC (showing a current price around $41.83).
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The stock opened well below its $50 IPO price and quickly traded at a notable discount to its net asset value (NAV), raising eyebrows across the investment community. Ackman has since offered an expla…
https://finwire.io/news/stock-markets-news/bill-ackmans-new-…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — View the PSUS premarket stock price ahead of the market session or assess the after hours quote. Monitor the latest movements within the Pershing Square USA Ltd real time stock price chart below.
https://www.investing.com/equities/pershing-square-usa
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The live PSUS price today is 41.83 USD. Track PSUS on MEXC with live chart, daily moves, key stats and essential info on trading the stock.Price Change The difference between the current price and the…
https://www.mexc.com/stocks/psus
+ 1 more evidence source
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.