NEW YORK: Stanley Druckenmiller is hedging his bets on the pandemic recovery.

       The investor, worth US$10.4bil (RM44.08bil) according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, snapped up stocks last quarter that would get a boost as the US economy emerges from Covid-19.

       His Duquesne Family Office bought Airbnb Inc and Marriott International Inc, while adding to its holdings of Expedia Group Inc and Starbucks Corp, according to its latest 13F filing.

       The firm also acquired a US$91mil (RM385.7mil) position in Netflix Inc and a US$52.3mil (RM221.67mil) stake in vaccine maker Moderna Inc.

       In total, the family office disclosed almost US$3.5bil (RM14.83bil) in US equities, down US$400mil (RM1.6bil) from the first quarter. The largest exit was a US$154.6mil (RM655.27mil) position in Citigroup Inc, which Duquesne acquired in the first quarter.

       Family offices, which oversee the money and personal affairs of the world’s ultra-rich, don’t typically reveal their investments.

       The 13F filings though are required by the Securities and Exchange Commission of money managers overseeing more than US$100mil (RM423.85mil) in US equities and must be filed within 45 days of the end of each quarter.

       That means a handful of the firms disclose a portion of their portfolio, offering insight into the strategies of some of the world’s wealthiest people.

       The investment firm for George Soros, once Druckenmiller’s boss, exited all the positions it had bought in the selloff following the collapse of Bill Hwang’s family office Archegos Capital Management.

       Soros Fund Management sold US$194.3mil (RM823.54mil) of ViacomCBS Inc as well as stakes in Baidu Inc, Vipshop Holdings Ltd, Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Discovery Inc. The firm’s chief investment officer Dawn Fitzpatrick increased its bet on Amazon.com Inc, as it did in the first quarter, and revealed new positions in IHS Markit Ltd and Proterra Inc.

       One of the few international family offices to file is Blue Pool Capital, which manages part of the fortunes of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founders Joe Tsai and Jack Ma. The Hong Kong-based firm disclosed it had almost US$1.2bil (RM5.09bil) in US equities at the end of the quarter, more than doubling from the prior period.

       Blue Pool’s largest position was a US$748mil (RM3.17bil) stake in Blue Owl Capital, an investment firm created by the merger of Owl Rock Capital and Dyal Capital Partners.

       Founded in 2004, Blue Pool boosted its bets on tech giants, including Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com and Alphabet Inc, but ditched its stake in Netflix.

       Iconiq Capital, which has managed money for high-profile Silicon Valley billionaires such as Sheryl Sandberg and Mark Zuckerberg, is one of the largest holders of Blue Owl stock with a US$644mil (RM2.73bil) stake.

       The San Francisco multifamily office reported that the value of its US equity holdings surged US$5.8bil (RM24.58bil) from the previous quarter, to US$14.7bil (RM62.31bil). — Bloomberg