SoftBank’s string of losses inspires some traders to joke that the best way to make money is to buy when founder Masayoshi Son sells, and vice versa. Some formidable US hedge funds appear to be putting that into practice: piling into Alibaba even as the Japanese investment group dumps most of its stake.
Daniel Loeb’s Third Point has acquired 1.3mn American depositary shares in the Chinese ecommerce giant. Scion — the business of Michael Burry of The Big Short fame — has boosted bets on Alibaba and peer JD.com.
The two stocks are now the largest holdings in Scion’s stock portfolio, accounting for about a fifth of the total. Burry has tripled his stake in JD.com to $11mn, while Alibaba’s has doubled to $10mn.