Meta’s reputation as one of Silicon Valley’s biggest A.I. spenders, but with little to show for it so far, is spooking much of Wall Street. But hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman isn’t fazed. Ackman’s New York-based fund, Pershing Square, disclosed this week that it has taken a nearly $2 billion stake in Meta, equivalent to about 10 percent of the fund’s capital. The bet reflects Ackman’s contrarian conviction that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg will ultimately deliver on his A.I. ambitions.
“We believe Meta’s current share price underappreciates the company’s long-term upside potential from A.I. and represents a deeply discounted valuation for one of the world’s greatest businesses,” said Pershing Square in an investor presentation on Feb. 11.
A self-proclaimed disciple of Warren Buffett, Ackman is not typically known as a tech investor. His most successful wagers have historically been in more traditional businesses such as Chipotle and Hilton. That began to change in 2023, when he took a $600 million position in Google, betting on the company’s long-term A.I. potential. Ackman has since said that advanced forms of A.I. represent a “meaningful investment” theme for his portfolio.
In recent quarters, Ackman has exited his holdings in Chipotle and Hilton and added new positions in Uber and Amazon, reflecting a broader shift to tech. Ackman’s wager on Meta is rooted in the view that investor anxiety over A.I. spending is overshadowing an otherwise improving business trajectory.
Meta’s shares have fallen about 10 percent over the past 12 months, weighed down by concerns that its capital expenditures are spiraling out of control. The company spent $72.2 billion on A.I.-related capital expenditures last year, as it pushed ahead with massive infrastructure projects such as new data centers and poured billions into building its Meta Superintelligence Labs team. That figure is expected to rise further, with Meta projecting total spending of between $115 billion and $135 billion this year.
So far, those investments have yet to translate into outsized financial returns. Still, Meta has argued that its A.I. strategy remains in an early stage. “We’re in this interesting period where we’ve been rebuilding our A.I. effort,” Zuckerberg told analysts last month. “The picture will become clearer, and I think more exciting, if we do our jobs well over the course of the year.”
Ackman believes the eventual payoff will justify the scale of the investment. He has described Meta’s advertising-driven business model as “one of the clearest beneficiaries of A.I. integration.”
In its presentation, Pershing Square said A.I. could significantly boost user engagement, enable more relevant and personalized advertising, and open up new growth avenues such as enterprise-focused A.I. assistants and wearable devices. Those prospects, the firm argued, support Meta’s decision to “front-load infrastructure and talent investments.”
Ackman also pointed to Meta’s ability to rein in costs when necessary, citing the company’s “Year of Efficiency” in 2023, when it cut headcount and scaled back expenses after years of aggressive expansion.
Meta is now one of just 14 positions in Ackman’s concentrated portfolio. Ackman made his name through aggressive proxy battles and high-profile short bets, but he has since said he has “permanently retired” from that approach in favor of long-term, constructive investments. Pershing typically adds only one to three new positions each year.
The strategy has paid off recently. Pershing Square, which managed more than $19 billion in assets as of December, ended 2025 with a 20.9 percent gain in net asset value, outperforming the S&P 500’s roughly 18 percent return.
