Billionaire Bill Ackman is offering to take over Howard Hughes Holdings, with the goal of turning the Houston real estate firm into a holding company akin to Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management is seeking to own as much as 69% of Howard Hughes Holdings,

Shares of Howard Hughes Holdings jumped after hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman's firm offered to buy 11.8 million Howard Hughes shares at $85 apiece to own a majority stake in the company. The stock jumped about 9.

Pershing Square Capital Management is pushing for a merger after the spinoff of some of Howard Hughes’ other entities.