Billionaire activist investor Bill Ackman has taken a roughly $2 billion stake in Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META, XETRA:FB2A, SIX:FB), making a major bet that the social media giant will outpace rivals in the race to develop artificial intelligence technologies, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal.
The investment, disclosed at a Pershing Square fund meeting on Wednesday, represents about 10% of the hedge fund’s capital at the end of 2025, based on past disclosures.
Despite its size for Pershing Square’s concentrated portfolio, the position remains a small fraction of Meta’s overall market capitalization.
Pershing Square began accumulating Meta shares in November at an average price of about $625 per share, the Journal reported, citing an investor presentation.
Meta’s stock has declined roughly 13% over the past six months amid investor concerns about the scale of the company’s spending on artificial intelligence infrastructure, research, and talent.
Ackman’s thesis centers on AI’s potential to enhance Meta’s core businesses, including content recommendations and targeted advertising, while also opening opportunities in wearables and AI-driven digital assistants.
“Meta’s business model is one of the clearest beneficiaries of AI integration,” Pershing Square said in its presentation, according to the Journal.
The investment comes as Meta continues to shift resources toward AI, including job cuts in its Reality Labs division. The company has incurred more than $70 billion in losses in the unit since 2020, drawing investor scrutiny even as CEO Mark Zuckerberg commits tens of billions of dollars to AI development and data center expansion.
Ackman is known for running a highly concentrated portfolio. Pershing Square held just 13 positions at the end of 2025, including stakes in Alphabet and Amazon, and recently exited longtime holdings in Chipotle Mexican Grill and Hilton Worldwide.
Pershing Square Holdings, the firm’s main investment vehicle, gained 20.9% in 2025, outpacing the S&P 500’s total return of 17.9%, though it fell 2.5% in January 2026.
Shares of Meta traded down 2.3% at about $653 on Thursday afternoon amid a broader pullback in technology stocks.