Buffett & Ackman: Amazonian Rumble!

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Alright, settle in, folks! We’re about to witness a financial showdown of epic proportions! It’s like watching two aging gladiators – Warren Buffett and Bill Ackman – enter the Amazonian arena. One’s got his thumbs firmly down on the stock, the other’s yelling, “More! More!” It’s a spectacle, I tell ya, a spectacle! Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, has been shuffling papers and counting pennies for, oh, a geological age, while Ackman, a younger, more…assertive fellow, likes to make a splash. And believe me, this splash is making waves.

Buffett, you see, ran Berkshire Hathaway like a particularly well-organized lemonade stand for sixty years. Sixty years! I’ve had shorter marriages! Now he’s Chairman, which basically means he gets a really comfy chair and still offers opinions nobody asked for. Ackman, meanwhile, is CEO of Pershing Square, a name that sounds suspiciously like a pirate’s gambling den. He’s known for both shorting things into oblivion and, surprisingly, occasionally being right. A true Renaissance man of finance, that one.

So, what’s the kerfuffle? Well, in 2025, one of these titans decided Amazon was a bit…overripe. The other? He’s been loading up like it’s a Black Friday sale on common sense. It’s enough to give a stockbroker indigestion!

Berkshire Ditches Amazon: A Case of Buyer’s Remorse?

Turns out, Berkshire Hathaway decided to prune about 77% of its Amazon holdings. 77%! That’s like throwing away three-quarters of a perfectly good goose! They’d been holding it since 2018, but apparently, it never quite fit into their massive portfolio. It was, shall we say, a rounding error. Now, Amazon was getting dinged by Trump’s tariffs (still happening, folks? Oy vey!) and some questions about their AI strategy. All those products coming from China, you see? It’s a logistical nightmare! And higher prices? Nobody likes higher prices! Except maybe accountants.

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And then there’s the capital expenditure. Amazon wants to spend a whopping $200 billion in 2026! That’s enough money to buy a small country! Investors are getting nervous, asking, “What are they doing with all that cash?” Well, apparently, building AI infrastructure. Which is fine, but sometimes you gotta ask, “Is it worth it?” Berkshire, being the value investor it is, clearly decided, “Nah.” They’d rather invest in something…less ambitious. Like a really big pile of cash.

Ackman’s Amazonian Adventure: All In!

Now, let’s talk about Ackman. This guy is bullish on Amazon. Like, sees-unicorns-and-rainbows-bullish. He’s allocated 14% of his fund’s capital to it. 14%! That’s like betting your entire life savings on a horse named “Fluffy.” He scooped up shares when the Trump tariff chaos was at its peak – a move that, I gotta admit, is either brilliant or insane. So far, it’s looking…pretty good. The stock’s up about 14% since then. He’s a gambler, that one. A financial gambler, of course. There’s a difference. Usually.

Ackman believes Amazon operates “two of the world’s great, category-defining franchises.” Fancy talk for “they sell a lot of stuff.” These are their e-commerce business – $700 billion in gross merchandise value annually! – and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing giant. You can order anything on Amazon, and it shows up at your door in days. It’s like magic! (Except it’s just really efficient logistics.) And AWS? They rent space in their data centers to companies. It’s like a digital storage locker for your business. Very convenient. Very profitable.

Pershing Square notes that AWS is “capacity-constrained.” Meaning they’re running out of space. So they’re supportive of all that capital expenditure. They expect to double data center capacity by 2027. And they see Amazon doubling profitability in the e-commerce business through advertising, network density, and automation. Robots! In warehouses! It’s the future, folks! Or at least, it’s what they’re telling us.

Look, I think Ackman has a decent case. Amazon’s core businesses have been dominant for years, and they’re well-positioned to benefit from AI. Whether all that spending will pay off? That remains to be seen. But it’s hard to bet against a company with the breadth, scale, and moats of AWS and the e-commerce business. Unless, of course, you’re Warren Buffett. Then you just quietly sell everything and go back to counting your money.

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2026-02-26 14:52