Bill Ackman Just Made Another $144 Million On Burger King This Morning

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital, is having a big day.

He just made more than $144 million on his Burger King stake this morning before the opening bell.

The news is that U.S. burger chain Burger King is in talks to acquire Canadian coffee and donut chain Tim Hortons.

This is significant because if the deal goes through it could be an opportunity for Burger King to become a Canadian company and take advantage of a lower corporate tax rate.

Ackman is the second-largest hedge fund holder of the fast food chain. According to data compiled by Bloomberg, Pershing Square owns 38,387,865, or a 10.9% stake.

The stock was last trading up about 13.9%, or $3.77 per share, in the pre-market. That makes his stake worth more than $1.18 billion.

Ackman first disclosed his stake Burger King in June 2012. He used his cash-shell company Justice Holdings to buy Burger King and then returned the burger chain as a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Since Burger King re-emerged as a publicly traded company, it's shares have soared more than 71%.