Ackman, whose New York-based hedge fund has more than $10 billion in assets under management, is working with investment banks Jefferies, UBS Group AG and Citigroup on the IPO, referred to on Wall Street as a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), the sources said.

Paul Tudor Jones on Wednesday critiqued the long-held belief that companies should exist for the sole purpose of generating profits.

The move is the first time Amazon has agreed to let an outside financial institution make underwriting decisions for the hundreds of thousands of businesses on its platform