Billionaire Chase Coleman Is Betting Big on Industry Disruptors from Tech Sector

JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD) was Coleman’s third-largest tech holding heading into the fourth quarter. The stock tanked by over 23% between July and September, amid concerns regarding the Chinese economy, and Tiger Global unloaded 12.65 million shares during this time, remaining with 57.53 million shares worth $1.50 billion (the position amassed 18.50% of the fund’s equity portfolio). Since the end of the third quarter, JD’s stock has slightly rebounded, gaining around 10% amid strong “Singles Day” sales figures and support voiced by short-seller Jim Chanos of Kynikos, who suggested JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD)’s stock as a long alternative to Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA). The stock gained almost 50% in the first six months of 2015, and despite the reversal of that momentum since, it is still 16% in the green year-to-date. Investors are betting on JD.Com Inc (ADR) (NASDAQ:JD) based on the belief that the stock’s drop is caused by short-term factors, while over the long-run it will be able to provide them with significant gains. Lei Zhang’s Hillhouse Capital Management is one of the largest shareholders of JD.Com, owning 136.61 million shares as of the end of September.

Amid an 18% growth of the stock between July and September, Tiger Global opted to acquire 2.45 million shares of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and, in this way, boosted its stake in the company more than three-fold to 3.19 million shares worth $1.63 billion. It was the right call, since the stock has advanced by another 30% since the end of September, as Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) pleased investors with strong financial results for the latest quarter. Jeff Bezos has done a great job at positioning the company for long-term growth and the results of his work are starting to show, as Amazon’s stock has already more than doubled since the beginning of the year. In this way, investors are becoming more and more bullish on Amazon. Aside from Coleman, Andreas Halvorsen also raised his exposure to Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) in the last quarter, with Viking Global reporting a holding of 3.02 million shares as of the end of September, up by 735,203 shares on the quarter.

Finally, Coleman’s top bet is Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), in which Tiger Global disclosed an $1.86 billion stake containing almost 17.20 million shares. Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is another company that traded short-term momentum for long-term profits, as it did not focus on beating earnings estimates each quarter, contrary to so many other companies, but rather, focused on developing its business. With customers switching from traditional cable to online services, Netflix should reward its shareholders over the years ahead. The company’s original content has also been well received by viewers, which should support the company’s focus on more original movies and shows, rather than purchasing the rights to other cable networks’ and movie studios’ content. Phillipe Laffont, who leads Coatue Management, seems to share Coleman’s opinion on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX), as Coatue added 3.95 million shares to its stake in the third quarter, reporting ownership of 5.96 million shares in its latest 13F filing.

Disclosure: None