Under Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway has evolved from a small textile mill into a trillion-dollar company with a diverse group of subsidiaries. Berkshire stock has returned 20% annually since Buffett took control in 1965, earning him a reputation as one of Wall Street’s most accomplished investors.
Billionaire Bill Ackman hopes to achieve similar success with Howard Hughes Holdings. He plans to turn the company into a “modern-day Berkshire Hathaway” by buying controlling interests in quality businesses. His hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, owns a 46.9% stake in the company.
Importantly, Ackman ranks among the top 20 hedge fund managers as measured by net gains, and Pershing Square outperformed the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) by 28 percentage points in the past five years. That makes Ackman a good source of inspiration. And he recently bought shares of Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER), stocks up 160% and 270%, respectively, since January 2023.