Billionaire investor Bill Ackman is cooking up something unusual: a two-for-one public offering that would list both his investment management firm Pershing Square and a brand new closed-end fund, according to a Friday report from the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the plans.

The timeline? Ackman is aiming for early 2026, which gives him about a year to pull together what could be one of the more creative financial structures we've seen in a while.

A Sweetener for Retail Investors

Here's where it gets interesting. Ackman has been mulling a public listing for Pershing Square for months now. Meanwhile, his firm has been developing a new closed-end fund called Pershing Square USA, Ltd., designed specifically for U.S. retail investors and intended to trade on the New York Stock Exchange. That fundraising effort hit pause back in July 2024, but apparently the idea never went away.

The twist? Investors who buy into the closed-end fund would receive shares in the management company—Pershing Square itself—for free. Partners at Pershing Square would give away up to 10% of the firm's equity, which could be valued well above the $10.5 billion valuation it commanded in 2024.

Ackman's recent high-visibility presence—thanks to his outspoken takes on social and political matters and connections to figures like President Donald Trump and Tesla Inc. (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk—might actually help drum up retail enthusiasm for the offering.

Pershing Square currently manages about $20 billion and has evolved from its traditional activist investing roots toward making concentrated bets on large public companies. The firm did not immediately respond to requests for comment.