After sell-off: Tiger Global is reducing its bets on technology companies

Tiger Global, the hedge fund known for its big bets on tech companies, has reduced its holdings and sold stakes in companies like <a class="tvreplink" target="_blank" href="https://www.tradingview.com/chart/?symbol=Nasdaq%3ANFLX">Netflix and Rivian after suffering heavy losses during this year's stock market turmoil.

The total value of Tiger Global's public stock positions fell to just over $26 billion at the end of the first quarter from $46 billion at the end of last year, according to filings released Monday. The drop in value reflects lower stock market valuations and stock sales.

In a significant pullback for the New York-based company, Tiger Global sold its entire stake in several well-known consumer tech companies, including dating app Bumble, vacation rental company Airbnb and Didi, the Chinese ride-hailing conglomerate.

It also trimmed its stakes in trading app Robinhood, selling nearly 80 percent of its shares, and in Peloton, the struggling connected fitness company. Tiger Global declined to comment.

Tech stocks have come under severe pressure this year as investors grapple with higher inflation and higher interest rates and are wary of companies that thrived during the coronavirus pandemic but fell out of favor as the economy reopened.

Tiger Global's sharp exit is the latest evidence of a difficult start to the year for the hedge fund and its founder Chase Coleman, who has built a reputation as one of the world's best-known growth investors after founding the company in 2001.

Monday's disclosures came as part of routine quarterly filings known as 13-Fs. They come after the Financial Times reported this month that Tiger Global suffered losses of about $17 billion during this year's tech sell-off, one of the largest dollar losses for a hedge fund in history.

Tiger Global told investors this month that its stock picking funds have suffered big losses and are down well from previous highs. Tiger Global's main hedge fund fell 15.2 percent in April, bringing the year's losses to 43.7 percent. Another fund that only invests in "long" stocks fell 51.7 percent between the beginning of the year and the end of April.

Tiger Global called the results "very disappointing" in a letter to investors, adding that "markets have been uncooperative given the macro backdrop".

The hedge fund has become known for its aggressive style of investing in private start-ups, which has spooked some rival venture capitalists. In March, he told investors he had raised $12.7 billion for his latest venture capital fund, the largest of its kind.

Unlike some of Tiger Global's previous funds, the new vehicle focuses on investing in relatively young start-ups. Tiger Global told investors that more than half of the fund's investments have been in Series A or Series B deals, which typically represent the first or second major funding for private technology companies.

Some of Tiger Global's stock sales during the first quarter were in companies it backed as private start-ups. For example, the company sold more than 70 percent of its stake in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, which was worth $724 million at the end of last year.

It also sold 95 percent of its stake in software company UiPath, a position valued at $354 million.

Third Point, the hedge fund led by Daniel Loeb, also divested itself of some of its biggest tech investments.

The New York-based fund sold its entire stake in Google parent Alphabet and more than 90 percent of its position in Amazon in the first quarter, the filings show. He also sold a more than $600 million stake in fintech company Upstart, which he had backed as a private start-up.

In a letter to investors this month, Loeb said the fund had "taken a significantly more defensive stance" since the first quarter as "valuations in the current interest rate environment, geopolitical uncertainty and emerging weakness in key global economies give concern".