Netflix Rallies as Ackman's Pershing Square Buys Back In

Netflix rallied Thursday, climbing about 4% to around $77 by early afternoon, after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square disclosed that it had rebuilt a position in the streaming company. The buyer is a familiar one. It marks the fund’s first Netflix stake since 2022, when Ackman exited within months at a steep loss. Before Thursday, the shares had gone nowhere for a month.

Ackman buys back the stock he sold

The disclosure came in Pershing Square’s latest filing, which showed a new Netflix holding of 3.15 million shares as of June 30. Netflix was one of six new positions in what the firm called its largest portfolio overhaul in years; Visa and Mastercard were among the others. A formal quarterly filing detailing the full portfolio is expected Friday. Ackman is among the more closely watched activist investors, and disclosures of his new positions routinely move the stocks involved.

Pershing laid out its reasoning. Netflix, the firm wrote, has “effectively won the streaming wars,” emerging from years of costly competition with a dominant position and improving profitability. The fund said it expects Netflix to grow revenue at a double-digit rate while content spending rises more slowly, widening margins over time. Pershing pointed to a subscriber base it put at close to double that of its nearest rivals combined.

The position that cost Pershing $400 million

Ackman’s history with Netflix is short and painful. He built a position of more than $1 billion in early 2022, calling the company a long-term compounder. Within a few months he was out. Netflix reported its first subscriber decline in more than a decade that spring, the shares tumbled, and Pershing sold at a loss it later pegged at over $400 million. Thursday’s disclosure reopens that chapter, with the firm now pointing to the profits Netflix has built since.

Still well below the spring highs

Even with Thursday’s gain, Netflix remains far from where it traded earlier this year. The stock changed hands near $99 in early April and has since fallen roughly a quarter, bottoming at $67.60 in mid-July before this week’s bounce. It closed Wednesday at $74.21, barely changed over the prior month. The 90-day range runs from $67.60 to $107.79, so Thursday’s level sits in the lower half of it. Netflix carries a market value of $320 billion. That leaves it well below its 52-week high of $134.12, a peak it last touched before this year’s slide. It remains lower for the year.

What to watch

Two dates frame the next few days. The quarterly filing due Friday will lay out Pershing’s full slate of positions and confirm the size of the Netflix stake alongside the rest of the overhaul. It is worth remembering that the holdings are a snapshot from June 30, so the fund could have added to or trimmed the position in the weeks since. Beyond the filing, the test shifts back to Netflix itself: the next earnings report, and whether the margin expansion Pershing is betting on keeps showing up in the numbers. For now, a well-known investor’s return is doing the talking.

This is a general-market summary for information only — not investment advice, and not a recommendation regarding any security.