Jun 3, 2026 · 30 min
Bill Ackman reveals strategy for navigating AI disruption and market volatility
Bill Ackman: Investment Strategy, What the Market is Missing, How AI Breaks Businesses
As rapid AI deployment threatens traditional business models, understanding how elite investors underwrite durability and navigate market cycles is critical for capital preservation.
- 1AI acceleration has dramatically increased the risk of disruption, making long-term business durability harder to find but more valuable than ever.
- 2Founder-led companies are uniquely equipped to navigate major technological shifts compared to short-tenured corporate chief executives.
- 3Building a modern compounding machine requires long-term capital structures inspired by Berkshire Hathaway to withstand short-term market noise.
Don't miss
Bill Ackman explains why founder-led companies are uniquely positioned to survive the AI transition compared to traditional corporate structures.
The brief
Pershing Square CEO Bill Ackman joins the hosts to outline his evolved investment philosophy, which focuses on identifying long-term, durable, and non-disruptible businesses that can withstand rapid technological shifts.
While capital rushes toward new artificial intelligence trends, Ackman warns that the risk of business disruption has spiked, making high-quality, traditional companies undervalued as they navigate the enterprise AI transition.
Ackman argues that founder-led companies are uniquely positioned to manage major technological disruptions, contrasting their long-term vision with the short-term focus of typical corporate chief executives.
To build a modern compounding machine, Ackman details his strategy of looking to the Berkshire Hathaway model, utilizing insurance float and long-term capital to back enduring enterprises.
What was said on this episode
30 statements · 22 positive · 6 negative · 1 mixed · 1 neutral
High-quality businesses are currently trading at unusually low valuation multiples.
“some of the best businesses in the world are trading at the lowest multiples”
Listen at 0:15
Bill Ackman is bullish on OpenAI.
“Maybe a lot more bullish on OpenAI”
Listen at 0:34
Sarah should be OpenAI’s CEO.
“I thought she should be CEO of Open”
Listen at 0:37
Sam Altman should be OpenAI’s chair.
“I think Sam should be chair”
Listen at 0:41
Durable, protected, non-disruptible growth is the most important investment factor.
“The most important factor”
Listen at 1:52
The best investments require no board involvement or operational intervention.
“The best investments are one where you don't need to join the board and do anything.”
Listen at 3:53
Large board shareholders help companies pursue initiatives that temporarily reduce earnings.
“Having a big shareholder on the board where you can kind of test ideas out with the big shareholder before you expose them to the public. Where the big shareholder can say, I'm supportive of this initiative even though it's going to hurt earnings in the next few quarters is a helpful thing.”
Listen at 4:25
AI-era startups have substantially increased incumbent business disruption risk.
“the probability of your being disrupted has gone up enormously”
Listen at 5:40
Market enthusiasm for new technologies causes high-quality established companies to be neglected.
“What tends to happen is really high quality things get left behind.”
Listen at 6:14
Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft are undervalued.
“Yes.”
Listen at 6:52
Software companies should maximize their use of AI.
“if you're a software company today, you have to be as AI enabled as you can”
Listen at 7:09
Niche software companies charging high prices face substantial AI disruption risk.
“those companies are really at risk”
Listen at 7:26
Microsoft’s broad low-priced platform is less exposed to AI disruption.
“that platform's worth a lot more. There's less at risk.”
Listen at 7:34
High-quality company stocks are cheap relative to their fundamental cash-flow value.
“stocks of really high quality companies are really cheap”
Listen at 10:39
SpaceX should be evaluated using a venture-capital underwriting approach.
“I think you underwrite SpaceX the way you underwrite a venture capital investment.”
Listen at 11:19
SpaceX has a near-monopoly in low-cost space launches.
“SpaceX is near monopoly in terms of low cost space launch.”
Listen at 12:14
Amazon will increasingly depend on SpaceX as a launch customer.
“even Amazon is going to have to become an even bigger customer”
Listen at 12:20
Anthropic, OpenAI, and Palantir should be treated as venture investments.
“They're venture investments”
Listen at 13:13
OpenAI’s capital commitments greatly exceed its revenues.
“they're massively in excess of revenues”
Listen at 13:46
AI is the top opportunity and threat for American CEOs.
“It's probably number one as both an opportunity and a threat.”
Listen at 14:29
Large companies have not yet achieved much success using AI.
“I haven't seen much success”
Listen at 15:31
Big companies are still at an early stage of effective AI use.
“we're still super, super early in terms of big companies using AI effectively”
Listen at 15:49
Founder-led companies have an advantage navigating major changes.
“I think that does give you”
Listen at 17:33
Pershing Square plans to turn Howard Hughes into a long-term compounding machine.
“We're going to build this into a compounding machine over the next 50 years.”
Listen at 21:54
Howard Hughes can be purchased for approximately 60% of underlying value.
“you can buy it at, you know, whatever, 60 cents on the dollar.”
Listen at 22:05
Pershing Square can build a highly profitable insurance company.
“we can build a really profitable insurance company”
Listen at 22:25
The insurance company’s long-term goal is approximately trillion-dollar scale.
“the goal is to build it into a trillion dollar thing over time”
Listen at 22:32
A SpaceX IPO at $1.75 trillion would likely have historically low equity capital costs.
“If SpaceX goes public at $1,750,000,000,000, it'd probably be the lowest cost of capital, equity capital transaction in the history of the world.”
Listen at 24:17
Pershing Square projects assets under management approaching $1 trillion from $25 billion.
“We'll go from 25 billion of assets to something approaching a trillion.”
Listen at 27:55
Pershing Square’s PSU vehicle trades at an 18% discount to cash value.
“it's trading at an 18% discount to cash”
Listen at 28:13
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.