Ackman Exits Alphabet as Berkshire's Abel Builds Fifth-Largest Stake

As of May 25, 2026, Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has fully exited its Alphabet position while Berkshire Hathaway successor Greg Abel increased the holding to Berkshire’s fifth-largest marketable equity stake. Ackman’s Q1 rotation, disclosed progressively since May 15, sold 95% of Alphabet shares (originally ~$1.9B) and redeployed proceeds into a 5.65 million-share Microsoft position plus a 19% larger Amazon stake. The move followed Alphabet’s ~300% rally since late 2022 and came as Microsoft traded at ~21x forward earnings after an 18% selloff. Through May 19 the switch had cost an estimated $641 million in missed Alphabet gains while Microsoft added $272 million; Google Cloud’s 63% growth continues to contrast with Azure’s 39-40%.