Bill Ackman's hedge fund firm, Pershing Square, filed today to raise $5 billion–$10 billion in an IPO.

• 💵 Why it matters: Ackman won't give up his chase for permanent capital — and the retail investors who could help him build a next-gen Berkshire Hathaway.

Catch up quick: Ackman abandoned an effort in 2020 to raise public funds through a blank-check structure.

• He last tried in 2024, with talk to raise $25 billion in an IPO for Pershing's closed-end fund, but the effort ultimately failed after investors feared that it would trade at a discount, as closed-end funds often do.
• Pershing Square does have a dual listing for a fund in Europe, but a U.S. offering would be different.

📣 Between the lines: First, it would mean Pershing Square's management company going public. A NYSE listing would place it and its fund directly into U.S. brokerage accounts, where Ackman — one of Wall Street's most outspoken investors — could best create a Buffett/Berkshire-style narrative.

Zoom in: Ackman's plan involves a combined offering for the hedge fund manager and a new closed-end fund.

• Proceeds raised through the IPO would go to the closed-end fund.
• One share in the fund would cost $50, and for every 100 shares acquired, investors would receive 20 shares in Pershing Square Inc.

Follow the money: Ackman has long touted the benefits of permanent capital, the Berkshire-style model in which shareholders can sell stock but the capital itself never leaves.

• That structure allows the firm to invest for the long term without worrying about investor redemptions during market downturns.

What they're saying: The combined offering, Pershing said, would "represent a material expansion of our permanent capital" assets under management.

Oracle shares jumped over 8% in extended trading this afternoon after the cloud computing giant said it expects to "comfortably meet and likely exceed" its previous revenue growth outlook for the next fiscal year "and beyond."

By the numbers: The company raised its revenue forecast for the next fiscal year to $90 billion. Analysts had expected $86.6 billion, CNBC reported, citing LSEG.

• In its most recent quarter, revenue rose 22% to $17.2 billion, exceeding S&P Capital IQ expectations of $16.9 billion.
• That included a 44% jump in cloud revenues to $8.9 billion.
• Net income of $3.7 billion topped expectations of $3.6 billion.

Zoom in: The company's order backlog — which it calls remaining performance obligations — totaled $553 billion at the end of the quarter, up 325% from a year earlier.

• Most came from AI contracts "where Oracle does not expect to have to raise any incremental funds" to deliver computing services, it said.

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"OpenAI and Anthropic should create recruitment sites where their clients can advertise roles, listing the token budget for the job alongside the salary range."

Context: Salary and equity aren't the only things AI engineers are asking about in job interviews these days. Increasingly, access to AI compute — including GPU allocation and token budgets — is reportedly becoming part of the pitch for new hires.

🏷️ Kohl's Q4 results show its sales decline isn't easing — and management's own forecast suggests the comeback won't arrive this year. (Axios)

✈️ Boeing said it will delay deliveries of some 737 MAX planes this month after discovering scratched wiring from a machining error on newly built aircraft, but it's sticking with its delivery goal for the year. (WSJ)

Taco Bell's third annual Live Más Live event transitioned to a television show streaming on NBCUniversal's Peacock, marking a new approach for the chain, Axios' Maxwell Millington and Kelly Tyko write.

Zoom in: The fast-food giant, known for experimenting (remember the Baja Blast pie?), hosted a variety show in Hollywood today to unveil over 20 new menu items.

• The event, hosted by rapper Vince Staples, included awards, a game show and appearances from Benson Boone, Demi Lovato, Fernando Mendoza, Ariana Madix, Anderson .Paak and Lil Jon.

The big picture: "The most iconic brands in the world ... are really starting to behave more like entertainment companies," Taco Bell's global chief brand officer Taylor Montgomery tells Axios.

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