Bill Ackman is one of the highest-profile billionaire investors today. When he puts money to work, the market pays attention. Right now, he's betting $1.
4 billion -- roughly 13% of his entire portfolio -- on a single stock. This stock is unknown by most, and misunderstood by many. It takes a little digging into, but there's a reason Ackman is willing to risk a ton of capital on its future.
This stock has a very strange history Ackman's pick has a familiar name, but the vast majority of investors can't say what it does. The company is Howard Hughes Holdings ( HHH 0.85% ) , named after American aerospace engineer and billionaire business magnate Howard Hughes.
Howard Hughes Holdings has a strange history. It was originally spun off from General Growth Properties in 2010. At the time, General Growth Properties was a sprawling REIT with a huge and varied portfolio of real estate assets.
To call the business complex would be an understatement. It owned everything from New England office buildings and suburban malls to air rights (the rights to build above something) over properties in Las Vegas. Management believed the market would have a difficult time accurately valuing the company as it emerged from bankruptcy, so they spun off many of these disparate assets into a company called Howard Hughes Corp, later renamed Howard Hughes Holdings.
At the time, Ackman was participating in General Growth Properties' bankruptcy and was therefore named Chairman of Howard Hughes Holdings. This.