Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller’s family office led investment firms for the world’s rich in trimming artificial intelligence bets last quarter, pocketing gains from one of this year’s hottest trends.
Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office cut its Nvidia Corp. stake in the quarter ended Sept. 30, according to its 13F filing, the first time this year the New York-based firm disclosed a drop in its holdings of the major beneficiary of increased AI interest.
George Soros’s family office and a division of multifamily office Stonehage Fleming also offloaded the stock in the period. Nvidia’s shares have surged almost 240% this year, making it the S&P 500 Index’s top performer.
Nvidia has became the poster child for AI computing as data-center operators stock up on the company’s processors to meet skyrocketing demand for chatbots and other tools, helping to make the Santa Clara, California-based company the first chipmaker to be worth $1 trillion.
Still, it’s faced challenges, including a crackdown on the sale of AI accelerators to China. President Joe Biden’s administration recently sought to limit the flow of advanced technology to that country, hurting Nvidia’s sales in one of the world’s biggest markets for its products.
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Druckenmiller, 70, sold about 75,000 Nvidia shares in the third quarter worth as much as $37.2 million, based on its share price in the period. It also offloaded more than half of its holding in Option Care Health Inc., while adding a stake in Alphabet Inc. worth about $110 million.
Nvidia remains the biggest holding by market value in Druckenmiller’s family office at $380.5 million as of Sept. 30, with South Korea e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. and Microsoft Corp. among its other major bets.
“AI could be as innovative as the internet,” Druckenmiller, who previously managed money for Soros, said this year at a Bloomberg Invest conference. “If I’m right on AI, I could own Nvidia for two or three more years” and maybe longer, he added.
Soros Fund Management, meanwhile, exited Nvidia in the third quarter, selling stock worth as much as $4.9 million. The New York-based firm also sold its holding in Rivian Automotive Inc., while adding more than $100 million worth of shares in UK biotech Abcam Plc.
Druckenmiller and Soros, 93, have net worths of $9.9 billion and $7.2 billion, respectively, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Money managers overseeing more than $100 million in US equities have to file a 13F form within 45 days of the end of each quarter to list their holdings in stocks that trade on US exchanges. It offers one of the few glimpses into how hedge funds and some large family offices invest.
Some family offices, such as that of hedge fund billionaire David Tepper, added to their AI bets by buying more Nvidia stock in the quarter.
Other highlights from 13F filings include:
- TPG Inc. co-founder David Bonderman’s Wildcat Capital exited its $7.7 million position in Uber Technologies Inc. and accumulated a roughly $19 million holding in US online delivery firm DoorDash Inc.
- Hedge fund billionaire Michael Platt’s BlueCrest Capital Management invested about $106 million into iShares China Large-Cap ETF, a US-based exchanged-traded fund tracking big Chinese firms.
- WIT, an investment firm that manages part of the Walton family’s fortune, similarly allocated more capital to a Vanguard ETF that tracks businesses worldwide based outside the US.