By David Randall
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Soros Fund Management, the family office of billionaire George Soros, slashed its stakes in electric vehicle makers Tesla Inc and Rivian Automotive in the first quarter, and added Netflix Inc shares, filings released Friday showed.
Soros purchased shares of Tesla and electric truck startup Rivian in 2022 and bought $35 million of Tesla convertible bonds in 2018.
The firm added new positions in Walmart Inc, Netflix and Chinese e-commerce company JD.com during the quarter. It boosted its stake in Qualcomm Inc by 50.5% to 104,350 shares, nearly tripled its position in Nike Inc to 166,720 shares, and increased its holdings of Uber Technologies Inc by nearly 50% to 818,955 shares.
The firm also added new stakes in railroad operators CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp. Norfolk Southern is facing lawsuits from the state of Ohio and the U.S. Justice Department over a Feb. 3 train derailment of 38 cars, including 11 carrying hazardous materials.
It cut its stakes in Walt Disney Co by 75% to 46,400 shares, and in electric truck maker Rivian Automotive Inc by a similar amount to 3.6 million shares.
During the first quarter the stock market swung between hopes that inflation would be tamed and the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, which sparked the largest banking tumult since the 2008 financial crisis.
The positions were revealed in 13-fs filings due at the end of each quarter and released six weeks later.
Soros, 92, is worth an estimated $6.7 billion, according to Forbes.
(Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Richard Chang)
