Story perspectives

Ackman Launches $5 B Pershing Square USA IPO on NYSE

4/29/2026

Summary

Ackman Launches IPO

Bill Ackman launched a $5 billion IPO for Pershing Square USA Ltd., listing on the NYSE as PSUS at $50.
Pershing Square Inc. (ticker PS) charges a management fee and gives one free PS share for every five PSUS shares.
PSUS will hold 12-15 stakes such as Alphabet, Amazon, Uber and Brookfield.
Ackman cut the minimum order to $250, attracting family offices and insurers, and likens the format to Berkshire Hathaway.

Summary

Ackman Files IPO

The 2024 SEC filing says the closed-end fund will use Bill Ackman’s brand and retail following in its marketing.
Pershing Square says 85 percent of capital comes from institutions, making the IPO the largest closed-end-fund offering and the year’s biggest issue.
After a $2.6 billion profit in March 2020 from a $27 million bet, the firm withdrew a $25 billion IPO filing later when an internal letter showed it would raise only about a tenth.

Summary

Ackman Skips IPO

Pershing Square avoided an underwritten IPO, offering one share per five PSUS shares bought.
$2.8 billion offering imposed a six-month lock-up on investors, whose composition was mainly pension funds, insurers and ultra-high-net-worth individuals, with RBC Capital Markets, BTG Pactual and Keefe Bruyette Woods joining UBS, BofA and Wells Fargo as bookrunners.
Renaissance Capital excluded PSUS from its 2026 IPO statistics because it is a closed-end fund.
Ackman said the permanent-capital model enables long-term opportunistic investing.

History

Historical Context

To broaden ownership, Berkshire Hathaway created Class B shares in 1996, issuing lower-priced stock with reduced voting rights; a 2010 50-to-1 split boosted their liquidity and helped the company enter the S&P 500. Decades later, Pershing Square USA adopted the same low-price share model for its fund, echoing Buffett’s earlier effort to attract retail investors.

1 of 4

Ackman Launches IPO

Bill Ackman launched a $5 billion IPO for Pershing Square USA Ltd., listing on the NYSE as PSUS at $50.
Pershing Square Inc. (ticker PS) charges a management fee and gives one free PS share for every five PSUS shares.
PSUS will hold 12-15 stakes such as Alphabet, Amazon, Uber and Brookfield.
Ackman cut the minimum order to $250, attracting family offices and insurers, and likens the format to Berkshire Hathaway.

1 / 4