Bill Ackman's Pershing Square disclosed a new position in Visa in its 13F filing for the period ending June 29, holding 3.27 million shares valued at approximately $1.12 billion, which accounts for about 5.4% of the portfolio, making it one of the fund's larger holdings.

In the same quarter, it also opened a new position in Mastercard with about 2.12 million shares valued at approximately $1.09 billion, as well as a position in S&P Global worth about $1.06 billion, totaling over $3 billion in new financial infrastructure positions. Ackman simultaneously announced three other new stocks: Netflix, Intercontinental Exchange, and Alcon, describing this as the largest portfolio restructuring in years, with shares purchased starting in the second quarter and included in various funds, including the Pershing Square USA listed on the NYSE in April.

The fundamentals for Visa provided a buying opportunity that quarter: CEO Ryan McInerney stated in a conference call for Q3 of fiscal year 2026 that net revenue grew 14% year-over-year to $11.6 billion, with earnings per share up 11%, both exceeding expectations; fixed exchange rate payment volume increased by 10%, surpassing $40 trillion for the first time in a single quarter, with U.S. payment volume also up 10%, marking the fastest growth since 2019 outside of the pandemic recovery period; the company repurchased $4.9 billion in stock and paid out $1.3 billion in dividends that quarter. In his semi-annual letter, Ackman noted that he has been tracking Visa and Mastercard for a long time, valuing their global consumer and merchant payment networks, as well as the increasing contribution of value-added services to revenue growth.

Funding sources are tied to the PSUS listing. In April, Pershing Square USA merged with its parent company, Pershing Square Inc., raising $5 billion, with approximately $2.026 billion from the IPO and about $2.974 billion from private placements; Ackman indicated that he has allocated over $200 million of PSUS funds into 14 positions, including 8 existing large holdings and 6 new stocks, utilizing market volatility in the first half of the year to build positions. As of the end of June, the total assets under management of the firm were approximately $32.5 billion, with fee-earning assets around $22.3 billion, of which about 98% is permanent capital.

The portfolio remains highly concentrated. Under the 13F criteria, Visa ranks behind Uber, Brookfield, Microsoft, and Amazon; as of June 30, PSUS holdings show Microsoft at approximately $568 million, accounting for 12.4% of net value, Uber at about $551 million, accounting for 12.0%, Meta at about $515 million, accounting for 11.2%, Visa at approximately $257 million, accounting for 5.6%, and Mastercard at about $254 million, accounting for 5.5%. In the first half of the year, PSH's net value fell by about 12.6%, while the S&P 500 rose by about 10.2%; Ackman explained the new positions as a response to the market overpricing AI infrastructure while neglecting payment and data pipeline stocks.

In terms of market mechanics, the buyers are a concentrated holding fund that just received $5 billion in permanent capital and must convert cash into stocks, while the sellers are the secondary market float; the trades are driven by 13F disclosures, not acquisitions or directed placements. Funds are flowing from cash and money market funds into payment networks and rating data companies, betting on the penetration of electronic payments and value-added services rather than single consumer brands. Beneficiaries include shareholders of high-margin network companies like Visa and Mastercard, as well as PSUS, which needs to quickly reduce cash drag; pressured parties include funds still betting on the pricing power of AI capital expenditure chains and Ackman's portfolio, which is amplified by tight positions leading to increased drawdown elasticity.

Source: Public Information