Pershing Square Builds Billion-Dollar Alphabet Stake (The Wall Street Journal)
Pershing Square Capital Management, the hedge-fund manager run by billionaire Bill Ackman, built a nearly $1.1 billion stake in Alphabet in the first quarter, a regulatory filing late Monday revealed. According to the filing, Pershing Square owned 8.1 million class C shares—which hold no voting rights in the company—and 2.2 million class A shares—which give one vote each—in Google’s parent company at the end of the quarter. Alphabet is up 32% this year. According to Pershing Square, the firm is up 3.6% through May 9 on the year.
Paul Tudor Jones Tangles With John Cena at Robin Hood Benefit (Bloomberg)
Paul Tudor Jones sounded sentimental when he took the stage Monday night at the Robin Hood Foundation’s annual benefit. There were sprouts and blooming flowers on the giant screens as he talked about a baby the organization had supported in its early days, who’s now a father and teacher. Poverty takes generational change, Jones, 68, mused about a mission he started 35 years ago with a few others following the stock market crash of 1987. Robin Hood has since become a national leader in the fight against poverty, spending more than $3 billion to assist hundreds of nonprofits in New York City, seed new ideas and measure impact.
Stan Druckenmiller, David Tepper Lead Family Offices Betting On AI (FA-Mag.com)
Billionaire investing titans Stanley Druckenmiller and David Tepper loaded up on stocks benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom during the first quarter. Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office increased its stake in Nvidia Corp., a chipmaker that’s been a key beneficiary of the increased interest in AI, according to the firm’s quarterly 13F filing. Nvidia’s stock is up 98% so far this year, making it one of the top performers in the S&P 500 Index. “AI is very, very real and could be every bit as impactful as the internet,” Druckenmiller said at the 2023 Sohn Investment Conference last week. Duquesne Family Office added more than 208,000 shares of Nvidia during the first quarter, increasing the market value of the firm’s holding in the chipmaker to about $220 million.
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Capital One Shares Up After Billionaire Investor Buffett’s Near $1 bln Bet on Bank (Reuters)
Shares of Capital One Financial Corp (COF.N) erased losses incurred in the last two weeks, after billionaire investor Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) disclosed it had taken a stake in the credit cards-focused bank. In its quarterly disclosure, after the bell on Monday, Berkshire said it had a stake of 9.92 million shares in the company. The stake would be worth $954 million, based on the closing price on March 31.
Leadership Changes at Nowo as Ola Björkmo Departs QQM (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Swedish fintech Nowonomics has announced the appointment of a new CEO, Amelie Söderberg, as the previous chief executive Rutger Selin is taking over the reins of wholly-owned fund boutique QQM Fund Management. Selin is replacing Ola Björkmo, who has resigned from his role as CEO and portfolio manager after selling his 28 percent equity stake in QQM back in March.
Elliott’s Back for Blood, But This Time Is Harder (Bloomberg)
How to describe the feeling that must come over a company director upon receiving a letter from activist Elliott Investment Management LP proposing a “transparent and robust discussion”? In NRG Energy Inc.’s case, the added twist is that a similar letter dropped only six years ago. If the first one felt a little like getting root-canal treatment, a second must feel like getting the bill for that treatment. NRG did rather hang a sign outside saying “hey activists!” with December’s announcement of a $5.2 billion acquisition of Vivint Smart Home Inc., which sells automation and security systems. How popular was this deal? NRG dropped 15% on the day and then, after everyone had 24 hours to think about it and calm down, another 5%.
George Soros Hates Humanity Elon Musk (BigNewsNetwork.com)
The SpaceX CEO lashed out at the left-wing financier soon after it emerged that he had dumped his Tesla stock. Elon Musk used his Twitter platform to attack left-wing fundraiser George Soros on Tuesday, claiming that the prominent Democratic Party financier “hates humanity,” and comparing him to comic-book super villain Magneto. In a tweet which has been viewed more than 20 million times, Musk wrote without explanation that “Soros reminds me of Magneto” – the mutant comic book anti-hero of the X-Men series.
Big Hedge Funds Buy Meta in Q1 (Hedge Week)
Arrowstreet Capital LLC, D1 Capital Partners and Coatue Management LLC were among the prominent hedge funds that acquired shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc during the first quarter of the year, according to a report by Reuters. Meta Platforms stock soared by about 70% during the first three months of the year after the company announced better than expected earnings and steeper cost-cutting measures along with a $40 billion share buy-back programme. The company, which is now up nearly 100% for the year to date, suffered the biggest decline of the maga-cap FANG stocks during 2022.
Monday 5/15 Insider Buying Report: CNNE, CODI (Nasdaq.com)
At Cannae Holdings, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Chief Executive Officer Richard N. Massey purchased 50,000 shares of CNNE, at a cost of $18.01 each, for a total investment of $900,615. So far Massey is in the green, up about 3.8% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $18.70. Cannae Holdings is trading up about 3.1% on the day Monday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Massey in the past year. And at Compass Diversified, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by Elias Sabo who purchased 34,796 shares for a cost of $18.80 each, for a total investment of $654,269. Compass Diversified is trading off about 1.2% on the day Monday. Sabo was up about 7.3% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with CODI trading as high as $20.17 in trading on Monday.
$50M Bet On Coinbase Global? Check Out These 4 Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
Coinbase Global: The Trade: Coinbase Global, Inc. (COIN) Director Frederick Ernest Ehrsam III acquired a total 810,000 shares an average price of $61.77. To acquire these shares, it cost around $50.04 million. 4D Molecular Therapeutics: The Trade: 4D Molecular Therapeutics, Inc. (FDMT) 10% owner Sharon Rose Shabet acquired a total of 850,000 shares at an average price of $16.00. To acquire these shares, it cost around $13.6 million.
