Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has acquired a stake in Uber worth over $2.3 billion, building one of the largest individual holdings in the ride-hailing company. Ackman's investment firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, began purchasing shares in early January after the stock price fell due to weaker than expected quarterly results.

Despite the short-term disappointment, Ackman sees substantial upside potential in Uber. "Uber is one of the best-managed and highest-quality companies in the world," he wrote on X on Friday. The stock is "massively undervalued," which presents a rare opportunity, especially for a company with a market capitalization of nearly $160 billion.

After the announcement of Ackman's entry, Uber shares rose by 6.6 percent on Friday.

Uber, once celebrated as an aggressive growth story, long struggled with profitability issues. It wasn't until 2023 that the company achieved its first annual operating profit – a turning point that CEO Dara Khosrowshahi described as proof of sustainable profitable growth. Ackman explicitly praised Khosrowshahi, stating that Uber had "suffered from erratic management for years," but the CEO had finally put the company on the right track.

The investor now holds over 30 million Uber shares.

Parallel to the realignment of the business, Uber is focusing on autonomous vehicles. The company does not see itself threatened by self-driving cars but plans to actively integrate them into its platform. A deal with Waymo, the autonomous vehicle division of Alphabet, was already closed last year. This week, Uber also opened a waitlist for self-driving vehicles in Austin, Texas.

Uber sees itself in a "1 trillion dollar market" where autonomous mobility solutions could further accelerate growth. Ackman's billion-dollar bet shows that investors are increasingly taking this approach seriously.