$25.6bn total value
Amazon stake increased
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) rejigged its US equities portfolio during a tumultuous first quarter for Stateside stocks, expanding its direct investment in Amazon but trimming its bets on some of the other so-called Magnificent Seven technology companies.
PIF has submitted filings to the US market regulator each financial quarter from 2020 onwards when it became a major investor in US listed businesses.
The latest filing, for the first quarter of 2025, shows PIF has reduced its call options in 16 companies.
These include Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet, Facebook owner Meta Platforms – three of the “Magnificent Seven” which had been the biggest drivers of a multi-year bull run which propelled US stock markets to all-time highs in early February.
Since then investor confidence has faltered due to worries about US president Donald Trump’s erratic and combative import tariff policy.
The S&P Global 500 index fell 4.3 percent in the first quarter and the Nasdaq Composite index slid 10.4 percent over the same period.
Yet regulatory filings show PIF was bullish on US equities as 2024 ended. At that time, it owned call options in 35 companies worth $7.5 billion combined. Call options give the right to buy a stock a certain price and are a bet that the price will increase.
By March 31 PIF no longer held call options in 10 of these companies including Netflix, Nike, T-Mobile US Inc, cybersecurity specialists CrowdStrike and pharmaceutical maker Pfizer.
This indicates it either sold the call options or the options had an expiry date sometime during the first quarter and expired worthless.
A fluctuating portfolio
As of March 31, PIF owned shares and call options in 62 companies worth $25.6 billion combined. That compares with three months earlier when its US equities portfolio spanned 60 companies and was worth $26.8 billion.
The fund’s positions in 20 companies were unchanged in the first quarter. The combined value of these holdings rose $147million in the first quarter thanks largely to Uber (+$913 million) and Take-Two Interactive Software (+$264 million). Lucid Group was again the biggest drag, PIF’s stake in the electric vehicle declining by another $1.1 billion in value to $4.3 billion.
PIF increased its investments in only 11 companies – seven call options and four direct shareholdings.
It bought an additional 401,344 shares in Amazon, probably through call options it held previously, and acquired stock in DoorDash and Air Products, which is a co-investor in Saudi Arabia’s under-construction green hydrogen plant.
Most notably PIF increased its call options in Lam Research Corp, which makes components for semiconductors, nine-fold.
The fund also opened positions in 14 companies during the first quarter, all but one of which were call options. Among these were new call options in Bank of America, Walmart and S&P Global.
Claritev is the only new addition to PIF’s share, rather than call option, portfolio. The fund’s stake in the healthcare technology company was worth $26.4 million as of March 31.
