Overview
- Microsoft shares rose as much as 4.1% Friday after Bill Ackman disclosed a new stake and named it a core holding for Pershing Square and his newly listed Pershing Square USA fund.
- Ackman said he began buying in February after a post‑earnings selloff at about 21 times forward earnings, and he funded the position by selling Pershing Square’s Alphabet stake.
- He argued Microsoft 365 and Azure provide resilient cash engines, and he said investors overlook Microsoft’s roughly 27% economic interest in OpenAI that he values near $200 billion.
- Other prominent investors pulled back, with TCI cutting most of a decade‑long Microsoft stake over AI competition concerns and Third Point trimming Microsoft while adding Alphabet, according to filings.
- The wager comes as Azure grew about 40% last quarter, Copilot reached roughly 20 million paying seats out of about 450 million business users, and soaring AI data‑center spending is drawing scrutiny over near‑term margins.