What Bill Ackman's $12.7 Billion Portfolio Reveals About Smart Stock Picking

When a hedge fund manager with a net worth around $9 billion puts nearly all his capital into just 11 stocks, it’s worth paying attention. Bill Ackman, who oversees Pershing Square Capital Management, is doing exactly that—and his concentrated bet strategy offers valuable lessons for how serious money gets deployed in today’s market.

The concentrated conviction approach

Unlike traditional wisdom that preaches diversification across dozens or hundreds of holdings, Ackman’s approach is strikingly different. His Pershing Square Capital Management portfolio, valued at $12.7 billion, is almost entirely concentrated in a carefully selected basket of companies. This isn’t accidental—it’s a deliberate strategy signaling where he sees the most compelling risk-reward opportunities.

The portfolio does show some thematic clustering. Two restaurant operators sit in the holdings: Chipotle Mexican Grill, operating over 3,200 locations across North America and Europe, and Restaurant Brands International, the parent company behind Burger King, Firehouse Subs, Popeye’s, and Tim Hortons. Consumer-facing businesses like Hilton Worldwide Holdings (which operates 24 hotel brands) and Nike (the sports apparel giant) also feature prominently—positions that benefit when consumer spending strengthens.

Real estate plays round out the portfolio. Howard Hughes Holdings develops master-planned communities, while its recent spinoff Seaport Entertainment Group focuses on entertainment-oriented real estate. Brookfield Corp., the Canadian alternative investment management firm, comprises roughly 15.8% of the fund’s total holdings, while Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad operator represents around $1 billion in invested capital.

Why Alphabet emerges as the portfolio crown jewel

Among all these positions, one stands out as Ackman’s core conviction: Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Pershing Square holds 3.99 million Alphabet Class A shares and 7.55 million Class C shares—combined, these represent approximately 17.3% of the entire portfolio. This makes it the single largest position, suggesting where Ackman sees the greatest long-term value creation potential.

The reasons become clear when examining Alphabet’s fundamentals. Revenue hit $90.2 billion last quarter, a 12% year-over-year increase, while earnings surged 50% year-over-year to over $35.5 billion. The company sits on a fortress balance sheet with $95 billion in cash, equivalents, and marketable securities as of March 31, 2025.

Beyond the current strength, Alphabet’s growth vectors are compelling. Despite ongoing discussions about artificial intelligence disrupting Google Search, the company’s search revenue continues expanding. AI Overviews, now integrated into Google Search, are actually driving higher search engagement and user satisfaction. Google Cloud represents the fastest-growing major cloud platform and has dramatically improved profitability—operating margins jumped from 9.4% in Q1 2024 to 17.8% in Q1 2025.

The autonomous vehicle opportunity through Waymo adds another dimension. Currently focused on robotaxi services, CEO Sundar Pichai has signaled potential future optionality around personal vehicle ownership, suggesting far larger addressable markets ahead.

The regulatory elephant in the room

Not everything is smooth sailing for Alphabet investors. The company has now lost two significant federal antitrust cases—one determining Google operated an illegal search monopoly, and another involving its digital advertising practices. These outcomes would give any investor pause.

However, the timeline matters. Appeals could stretch years into the future, and outcomes remain uncertain. Potential remedies might prove less disruptive than feared. Notably, Ackman hasn’t reduced his position despite the legal clouds, which signals confidence that the underlying business value remains intact even with regulatory headwinds.

The broader lesson for portfolio construction

Bill Ackman’s net worth has been built on conviction-driven investing, and his current portfolio structure exemplifies this philosophy. Rather than spreading capital thinly across dozens of holdings, he’s concentrated resources where due diligence and analysis suggest the strongest foundations exist. For investors seeking to understand how sophisticated capital allocators operate today, this concentrated approach—particularly the outsized Alphabet commitment—provides a useful blueprint for thinking about portfolio construction.