Billionaire investor Seth Klarman bets big on big tech

Super-investor Seth Klarman has significantly increased his holdings in big tech corporations, including Amazon, Alphabet (Google), and Meta (Facebook). 

Klarman is an American investor and hedge fund manager who founded The Baupost Group in 1982 at only 25.

The Baupost Group has over $30 billion in assets under management and has managed an annual compound return of 15% over the last 40 years. 

The success of this group has made Klarman one of the richest investors in the world, with a net worth of over $1.5 billion. 

As with Warren Buffett, Klarman is an acolyte of Benjamin Graham – the father of value investing – and is disciplined in following the core principles of Graham’s style of investing. 

Klarman is famous for his conservative approach to value investing, which involves focusing on ensuring an appropriate margin of safety before investing. 

His focus on always having a margin of safety resulted in Klarman publishing a book titled Margin of Safety: Risk-Averse Value-Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor to help ordinary investors understand the concept. 

Outside of investing, Klarman is a committed philanthropist through the Klarman Family Foundation. 

The Klarman Family Foundation has over $700 million in assets which are mainly allocated to medical research and education. 

Klarman’s latest 13F filing with the SEC shows he made big bets on the tech sector and, in particular, big tech. These investments now make up 11% of his portfolio and are outlined below:

• Amazon – Klarman grew his position in Amazon three-fold and bought an additional 742,000 shares – a 299% increase – in the American e-commerce giant. 
• Alphabet (Google) – His position in Google’s holding company grew by 190% after purchasing 2.6 million more shares in the last quarter of 2022.  
• Meta – Klarman bought an additional 1 million shares in Meta Platforms, formerly Facebook, growing his position by 150%.

In the last quarter of 2022, Klarman also sold significant stakes in previously large holdings in his portfolio. 

Klarman completely sold his stake in Dropbox, the cloud storage system, which previously made up 2.4% of his portfolio. 

He also disposed of his stake in Encompass Health. 

Interestingly, Klarman took a new position in Herbalife with the purchase of 2 million shares. However, this investment is a mere half percent of Klarman’s portfolio. 

Seth Klarman’s top 10 holdings