Fast forward half a century, Bill Ackman, the billionaire hedge fund manager behind Pershing Square Capital Management, is looking to replicate Buffett’s success by creating a “modern-day Berkshire Hathaway.

Why: Ackman has for months been pursuing Howard Hughes in a bid to create the next Berkshire Hathaway.Berkshire Hathaway was a textile company when Warren Buffett acquired it in 1965. The legendary investor and his partner Charlie Munger merged two other companies — Diversified Retailing and Blue Chip Stamps — with Berkshire in 1978 and 1983 before closing the textile firm's failing business in 1985.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management said on Tuesday it would buy 10 million newly issued shares of Howard Hughes Holdings for $900 million as it revised its proposal to the real estate developer.