George Soros’ Soros Fund Management Bought More $WBMD

George Soros’ Soros Fund Management announced a 5.6% passive stake in WebMD Health Corp. (WBMD) on October 24th after Carl Icahn reported a 7.94% activist stake three days ago. According to Soros Fund Management’s last 13F, the firm owned 75 thousand shares in WBMD in the second quarter, and now it had 3.47 million shares, which is a 45 times increase. It is possible that George Soros and Carl Icahn began the purchase at the same time, but George Soros obtained most of the stake through the convertible bond, while Carl Icahn focused on the call option. WBMD has declined by 29% year to date. Recently the stock was boosted by the buy-side volume and rallied from previous downtrend. The stock soared by 10% after Soros’ filing and is now priced at about $36.

In the second quarter twenty hedge funds invested in WBMD. Michael Lowenstein’s Kensico Capital had 2.03 million shares in the stock, or 3.55% stake. Phill Gross And Robert Atchinson’s Adage Capital Management had 630 thousand shares. Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies had 340 thousand shares.

Eighty-one-year-old George Soros is a famous Hungarian-American hedge fund manager who became known as “the Man Who Broke the Bank of England” after he made $1 billion in 1992. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. According to Forbes, he is ranked 35th on the list of the world’s richest people, with an estimated net worth of $14.2 billion. Soros returned an average of 30.5% per year between 1969 and 2000. In 2007, Soros came back from retirement after the quant liquidity crunch and managed to generate a 32% return for the year. Soros even managed to return 8% in 2008, the worst year for most hedge funds. Soros also returned 29% in 2009, earning $3.3 billion in fees and investment gains.

WebMD Health Corp is a health information services company. The company provides branded health and wellness content, tools and services to consumers, physicians and other healthcare professionals, employers, and health planers through its online portals, mobile platforms and health-focused publications. The online portals include www.WebMD.com and www.Medscape.com, as well as other sites. The company was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in New York City, NY.