"Amazon, MS Sold Off" Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund Halves US Stock Holdings

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) has reduced its holdings of U.S. stocks to about half in the first quarter of this year.

Bloomberg News reported on the 15th (local time), citing the ownership disclosure (13F) submitted by PIF to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). As of March 31, the value of U.S.-listed stocks held by PIF was estimated at $18 billion (approximately 24.04 trillion KRW). This represents a decrease of about $17 billion compared to $35 billion (approximately 47.5 trillion KRW) at the end of last year.

According to the report, PIF originally held more than $600 million each in shares of Amazon.com, Microsoft (MS), and Salesforce, but has sold all of these. The news agency stated, "PIF replaced direct holdings of these and other tech stocks with call options."

Additionally, PIF disposed of all its holdings in U.S. financial and travel companies by the end of the year. This includes $602 million in shares of BlackRock, the world's largest asset management firm, $942 million in shares of cruise company Carnival, and $757 million in shares of Booking Holdings, the parent company of Booking.com.

PIF funds its investments through loans, cash received from the Saudi government, various assets, and investment returns.

Meanwhile, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors managing over $100 million in stocks traded on U.S. exchanges are required to disclose their holdings quarterly through 13F filings.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.