Bill Ackman Swaps GOOGL Stake For New MSFT Position, Clarifies Sale Not a Bet Against Search Giant

• “To be clear, our sale ‌of ⁠Google was not a bet against the company,” Ackman said in an X post.
• Year-to-date, MSFT has declined while GOOGL has surged.
• Retail traders are turning to Google I/O, Google’s annual developers conference, which kicks off on Tuesday.

Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square has built a $2.1 billion stake in Microsoft Corp., and trimmed all or most of the fund’s stake in Alphabet, Inc., although Ackman later clarified that the transaction in no way signals a bearish view on the search giant.

"To be clear, our sale ‌of ⁠Google was not a bet against the company. We are very bullish long term ​on ​Alphabet. ⁠But at current valuations and in light ​of our finite capital ​base, ⁠we used as a source of funds for Microsoft," ⁠Ackman ​wrote on X ​on Saturday.

On Friday, a regulatory filing showed that Pershing Square had acquired 5.7 million shares of Microsoft in a fresh position last quarter, signaling that Ackman — the noted investor known for his high-stakes activist campaigns — was taking advantage of the recent pullback in Microsoft’s share price. The fund, meanwhile, trimmed its position in Meta Platforms.

“We sold Google and bought Microsoft. Interesting. I have enormous respect for Chris,” he said in an a separate X post that day, referring to Sir Christopher Hohn, whose TCI Fund Management sold most of its Microsoft stake last quarter.

In a third post, explaining his move, Ackman said the recent pullback in MSFT created a rare opportunity to buy one of the world’s strongest long-term businesses at an attractive valuation. 

Ackman’s MSFT Thesis

Ackman believes investors are underestimating the resilience and growth potential of Microsoft’s core franchises — Microsoft 365 and Azure — despite concerns around AI competition and cloud growth. 

He argued that Microsoft’s software ecosystem is deeply embedded across enterprises and difficult to replace because of its integrated security, compliance, and workflow infrastructure. Ackman is also optimistic about Microsoft’s AI strategy, particularly the expansion of Copilot, Azure’s multi-model AI platform, and the revised agreement with OpenAI, which he believes positions the company to benefit from the long-term AI boom. 

Despite a sharp climb last month, MSFT shares are still down 12.6% year to date and down 24% from their 52-week high last October. In contrast, GOOGL stock has risen 27% year to date and currently trades near an all-time high.

Both GOOGL and MSFT stocks were down under 1% in the overnight trading ahead of Monday, amid a broad slide in stocks as investors viewed the lack of firm agreements from the recently concluded U.S.-China summit as a negative. On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment was ‘bearish’ for GOOGL and ‘neutral’ for MSFT.

Google I/O Kicks Off This Week

Amid stock momentum, GOOGL investors are now turning focus to Google I/O, its annual developer event which kicks off on Tuesday and would likely feature a board slate of AI announcements.

Expectations are elevated, Bank of America said in an investor note on Friday. “In our view, so N.T. risk is that lack of a “wow” announcement could pressure the stock. We think longer-term investors will appreciate Gemini improvements, benefits from AI integration across Google’s product stack, and Google’s strong position for agentic assistant leadership. Reiterate Buy,” the research firm said. 

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