Bill Ackman’s “Baby Berkshire” Dream Crawls Out of the Crib and Heads Straight for the NYSE

Bill Ackman is back with another galaxy-brain idea, and this one might actually out-Ackman every Ackman move he’s ever pulled: the man wants to take Pershing Square public. 

Yes, the hedge-fund boss who narrates every market wobble like the fall of Rome and more recently has become a dating expert on Twitter for the pickup line “may I meet you?” is aiming for a 2026 IPO. I guess when you can influence markets the way Bill can, you might as well monetize that.

According to reports, Bill has been quietly telling investors and advisers that he’s ready to debut Pershing Square on the big stage… a dream he’s been chasing for more than a decade. If I were a betting man, I’d bet it’s right up there on his vision board next to “become Baby Berkshire,” “short Herbalife into oblivion (Mission Complete),” and “pick fights with regulators on social media before my morning latte.”

And of course he framed this whole thing as an evolution into his Berkshire Era. Because if there’s one thing Ackman loves, it’s comparing himself to Warren Buffett… even though Buffett spends his days eating McDonald’s and reading annual reports, while Bill wakes up, does 30 push-ups, logs into X, and immediately fires off a thread about inflation, morality, and whatever politician pissed him off that morning. 

(Source: Reuters)

But in Bill’s mind, Pershing Square is now the modern-day Omaha… except instead of railroads and insurance giants, it holds a dozen high-conviction positions like Uber, Alphabet, Amazon, Hilton, and his never-ending attempt to resurrect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the financial underworld.

To his credit, the man’s performance is actually backing up the delusion this time. Pershing Square is up 17% this year, thanks to Big Tech ripping faces off and those zombie mortgage twins delivering some returns. When the scoreboard looks that good, you can practically feel Bill’s inner monologue whispering, “Time to monetize the genius.”

And he already sort of test-drove this idea. Last June, Ackman sold 10% of Pershing Square at a $10 billion valuation to a bunch of billionaire fan clubs and family offices who said, “Sure, Bill, here’s a billion dollars. Go build your universe.”

Of course, hedge fund IPOs tend to implode with the elegance of a meme stock earnings call. The last wave of hedge fund listings have been diabolically bad. Man Group has had three negative years out of four, Blue Owl is down 40% this year, and the only firms doing well out there are the private-equity players who can deliver predictable results quarter after quarter. Hedge funds aren’t wired that way. Predictable cash flows and calm markets aren’t really their thing.

But in Bill’s head, he’s built different. When normal hedge funds see that and run, he sees that and whispers, “Perfect.” With interest rates falling and markets ripping higher, he’s convinced the world is finally ready for a publicly traded activist superhero who has the power to truly move markets… the way Michael Burry wishes he could.

That said, the talks are “preliminary,” meaning the whole plan could still fall apart, get delayed, or get derailed after Bill gets mad online and decides the IPO window “is no longer morally aligned with America’s principles.” But if it does happen (if Pershing Square hits the ticker tape) it’s instantly the most entertaining IPO of the decade. Just imagine Bill Ackman standing at the NYSE podium ringing the opening bell while live-tweeting about the Fed and scolding Congress in the same breath. It’s almost enough to make a grown man cry.

And look, maybe he really believes this will turn Pershing Square into a financial institution for the next 50 years. Or maybe he just wants to be able to tweet “$PSQ to the moon” without the SEC turning his life into a scavenger hunt. Either way, Bill Ackman going public is the most Bill Ackman thing he’s ever done.

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in McDonald’s, Uber, Alphabet, and Amazon as mentioned in the article.