Hedge funds have begun to unfriend Facebook, as a growing trend shows the space dumped the company from portfolios in the third quarter.
The year has been tumultuous for the social network, as a massive data breach scandal and other controversies led its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to defend the company before congressional panels.
Members of the investor community took notice, issuing proxy votes and petitions to remove Zuckerberg from his dual executive roles and to alter the company’s dual-share structure, which gives him voting control.
As a result, Facebook stock has taken a hit, and with hedge funds and other institutions deciding they would no longer click the business’ “like” button, it looks as though the snowball has only started to roll down the hill.
Activist fund JANA ditched all 651,493 shares of Facebook in the third period, with Stanley Druckenmiller’s family office hedge fund, Duquesne Capital, axing nearly 97% of its holdings, or 896,4000 shares, in Zuckerberg’s establishment.
Trimming the tech stock was also prevalent in Tiger cub firms, which are owned by alumni of Julian Roberts’ Tiger Management. Coatue Management, Viking Global, and Tiger Global sold 33%, 71%, and 12% of their Facebook positions, collectively removing more than 6.4 million shares.
Interestingly, their mentor, Robertson, is making a contrarian play. He bought 33,400 more shares in the social media behemoth, bringing Tiger Management’s holdings to 172,810.
Facebook was down 0.37% for the day Thursday, trading at $143.85 per share at market’s close. It has lost 18.48% of its value year to date.
Tags: Facebook, Hedge Funds, Julian Robertson, Mark Zuckerberg, Q3