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Stanley Druckenmiller at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha on Sept. 28, 2022.

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller said on Wednesday that his decision to sell out of Nvidia this year was a “big mistake.”

“I’ve made so many mistakes in my investment career — one of them was I sold all my Nvidia probably somewhere between $800 and $950,” Druckenmiller said in an interview on Bloomberg. “I own none and I owned none the last 400 points.”

Druckenmiller’s comments do not reflect Nvidia’s 10-for-1 stock split, which went into effect in June. The stock closed Wednesday at $135.72. On a split-adjusted basis, his sales would have taken place at between $80 and $95.

Nvidia has been the primary beneficiary of the artificial intelligence boom, selling its graphics processing units, or GPUs, to top cloud companies and the biggest developers of large language models. The stock soared 239% last year and is up another 174% in 2024, closing at a fresh record on Monday.

Earlier this year, Druckenmiller revealed on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he cut his Duquesne Family Office’s position in Nvidia in late March, saying “we’ve had a hell of a run.”

Taking the split into account, Duquesne owned about 6.18 million shares at the start of the year, 1.76 million at the end of the first quarter and 214,000 when the second quarter closed. In the third quarter of last year, Nvidia was his top holding. At the time, he owned 8.75 million shares worth around $400 million.

If he held onto that entire stake, it would currently be worth about $1.19 billion. Duquesne has not released its third-quarter holdings yet.

“It tripled in a year, and I thought the valuation was rich,” Druckenmiller told Bloomberg. “Nvidia is a wonderful company and were the price to come down, we’d get involved again. But right now, I’m licking my wounds from a bad sale.”

Nvidia is expected to release quarterly results in November, but most of its top customers, including Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet, will report financials later this month.

Druckenmiller told CNBC in May that Nvidia was “a little overhyped now, but underhyped long term.” He added that he was introduced to Nvidia in 2022, when “I didn’t even know how to spell it.”

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Stanley Druckenmiller: AI might be a little over-hyped now, but under-hyped long term

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Tesla stock slips after report EV maker is halting Cybertruck and Model Y production

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Tesla stock slips after report EV maker is halting Cybertruck and Model Y production

A Tesla Cybertruck sits on a lot at a Tesla dealership on April 15, 2024 in Austin, Texas. 

Brandon Bell | Getty Images

Tesla shares slid more than 2% Tuesday after a report that the electric vehicle maker was halting production of Cybertruck and Model Y models for a week in Austin, Texas.

The production stoppage begins June 30, Business Insider reported, citing a staff meeting where the announcement was made. The pause, which is for maintenance on production lines, would be the third such shutdown at the Austin facility in the past year, according to BI.

Tesla is tentatively launching the robotaxi in Austin on June 22, using Model Y vehicles equipped with a new version of the company’s “Full Self-Driving” technology.

CEO Elon Musk shared a video clip on X last week of a Model Y robotaxi on a road in Austin, adding to the buzz for the promised launch.

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CNBC has reached out to Tesla for comment on the reported pause.

Read the full BI story here.

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Tesla year-to-date stock chart.

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Reddit stock jumps after company rolls out new AI advertising tools

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Reddit stock jumps after company rolls out new AI advertising tools

Thomas Fuller | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Reddit shares popped about 5% after the social media company debuted new artificial intelligence-powered advertising tools.

The two new features, announced Monday in a post during the Cannes Lions festival, will help brands better leverage discussions on the platform. The company said the tools are powered by an engine called Reddit Community Intelligence that turns “posts and comments into structured intelligence.”

Reddit announced a “listening tool” called Reddit Insights, which shares real-time insights with marketers to help them identify trends and launch campaigns. The other tool, called Conversation Summary Add-ons, allows brands to show “positive” user content under their ads.

“These are tools for a new era of community marketing, one where brands can tap into Reddit’s authenticity and connect meaningfully with high-intent communities around the world,” the company wrote.

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The company said Publicis served as the exclusive alpha tester for Reddit Insights, while Lucid and Jackbox Games were among the early testers for Conversation Summary Add-Ons.

Companies across industries are betting on new ways to harness AI to improve advertising campaigns and better engage with users. These new tools are transforming the industry while also putting pressure on some advertising stalwarts.

The industry is also currently navigating a bumpy environment spurred by the trade war with China.

During the recent earnings season, many companies warned of sluggish advertising sales in certain regions due to a rocky macroeconomic environment. Recent developments, however, have suggested a cooling of tensions between the U.S. and China.

Last month, Reddit posted strong sales and upbeat guidance. The company has benefited from recent changes to Google search and internal site improvements, which include convincing logged-out users to open accounts. Logged-in accounts are more beneficial to advertisers.

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Outgoing WPP CEO says AI will 'revolutionize' advertising business

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Spotify’s Daniel Ek leads $694 million investment in defense startup Helsing

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Spotify's Daniel Ek leads 4 million investment in defense startup Helsing

Helsing uses AI to analyze large amounts of sensor and weapons system data from the battlefield.

Pavlo Gonchar | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

European defense technology startup Helsing on Tuesday said that it’s raised 600 million euros ($693.6 million) in a bumper new round of funding.

The investment was led by Prima Materia, the venture capital firm founded by Spotify CEO Daniel Ek and by Shakil Khan, an early investor in the popular music streaming app. Ek is also chairman of Helsing.

Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Accel, Plural, General Catalyst and Saab also put money in, alongside new investors BDT & MSD Partners.

Defense and the technology behind it have become a hot area for investors lately, amid major global conflicts, including the Ukraine war to Israel-Gaza. Last week saw a further escalation of war in the Middle East as Israel launched a series of airstrikes against Iran.

In 2024, venture funding in Europe’s defense, security and resilience sector reached an all-time high of $5.2 billion, according to a recent report from the NATO Innovation Fund. The sector grew 30% in the past two years, outperforming the broader VC market, which saw a 45% decline over the same period.

Founded in 2021, Helsing sells software that uses artificial intelligence technology to analyze large amounts of sensor and weapons system data from the battlefield to inform military decisions in real time. Last year, the startup also began manufacturing its own line of military drones, called HX-2.

Helsing, which operates in the U.K., Germany and France, said it would use the fresh cash to invest in Europe’s “technological sovereignty” — which refers to attempts to onshore the development and production of critical technologies, such as AI.

“As Europe rapidly strengthens its defence capabilities in response to evolving geopolitical challenges, there is an urgent need for investments in advanced technologies that ensure its strategic autonomy and security readiness,” Ek said in a statement out Tuesday.

Helsing did not disclose its new valuation following the latest financing round, which is subject to “certain approvals,” according to a statement. The firm was previously valued at around 5 billion euros in a 450 million euro funding round led by General Catalyst last year.

90% of defense executives say the future will be dictated by software-defined products, says Accenture A&D Lead

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