John Thaler’s JAT Capital Is Betting Big On This Chinese Stock

John Thaler’s JAT Capital disclosed a 5.6% stake in Chinese internet company Sina Corp (SINA). JAT had 1.46 Million shares of SINA at the end of March. At the time, their stake was valued at $156 Million and it was JAT’s second largest position with a 10.2% weight in its portfolio. Apparently that wasn’t big a enough bet for John Thaler. He purchased an additional 1.9 Million shares of SINA recently. Now his stake in this Chinese company is worth $375 Million.

Prior to this purchase John Thaler’s largest stock holding was another Chinese internet company, Baidu (BIDU). He had $180 Million in Baidi, nearly 12% of his portfolio. His third largest stock holding was Netflix (NFLX), with a $76 Million position. It is clear that his portfolio is very concentrated on these two Chinese hot internet stocks. Does he know something  that we don’t, or is he just betting big on these speculative Chinese internet companies to take advantage of the momentum in these stocks?

He isn’t the only hedge fund manager who is extremely bullish about SINA. Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management had $311 Million in SINA at the end of March. Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital had $145 Million and Hugh Sloane’s Sloane Robinson Investment Management ahd $80 Million in SINA.

Thaler’s JAT is a long/short equity hedge fund based in New York City. He graduated from University of Chicago with a BA in economics. He worked at a private equity firm, Spectrum Equity Investors, focusing on technology, media, and telecom sectors. Following this gig in Boston, he came back to New York to join Chris Shumway’s Shumway Capital Partners. He worked five years at Shumway’s now closed shop and left in 2007 to launch JAT Capital. He invests mostly in technology, media, and telecommunications sectors.