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The growth of Blue Whale, an investment fund backed by billionaire Peter Hargreaves, has sold entire stakes in Facebook owner Meta over concerns about global economic slowdowns, sparking tariffs from US President Donald Trump.
Fund manager Stephen Yiu told the Financial Times that he decided to “leave” Meta a few days after Trump’s sweeping tariffs on imports into the US were announced on April 2nd on the “liberation date.”
Yiu said the risk of a global economic slowdown after tariffs could be hit by the risk that “means Meta’s entire business” in digital advertising.
“If you do business globally with digital advertising and have global slowdowns and economic uncertainties, it will affect your top line (revenue).”
The Blue Whale Growth Fund, which manages £1.1 billion, has the largest holdings of technology stocks, accounting for nearly 40% of its portfolio. Meta held about 3%.
“We held Meta for four years until January 2022, then sold it before buying back in October 2023,” Yiu said.
He added that the fund has sold out completely from Microsoft due to concerns that it is spending a lot of money on AI. Fund managers began selling Microsoft “actively” towards the end of last year.
Yiu, however, said he has bought chip designer Nvidia to take advantage of the low stock price over the past few weeks, pushing the stock position up from 7% of overall funds at the end of last year to 10%.
Nvidia’s shares have endured rocky rides this year. Inventories fell after Chinese company Deepseek developed a low-cost AI model in January and again a low-cost AI model after April 2nd, but rose after Trump announced a 90-day suspension on mutual import duties everywhere outside China.
Nvidia hit this week after revealing new US controls on sales of American chipmakers to China.
“While (US control) causes short-term headwinds, Nvidia is well positioned to capture increased AI spending in both corporate and consumer applications,” Yiu said. “The AI race between the US and China will be one of the most viewed developments in the coming years.”
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Blue Whale Growth Fund’s Hargreaves Holding Holding is worth around £200 million. Hargreaves, the investment site co-founder, sowed the blue whale at its 2017 launch.
It has also purchased some of the largest tech stocks in the United States over the past few weeks, known as the “magnificent 7.” The group consists of Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla.
Interactive investors, one of the UK’s largest retail investment sites, recorded the highest trading volume ever on April 7th. Nvidia and Amazon were among the most purchased stocks in the first two weeks of April, along with other UK stocks such as BP, Rolls-Royce and Legal & General.
Hargreaves Lans Down pointed out as Trump first announced tariffs. Its clients maintained a net buyer of seven spectacular stocks. This accounts for nearly a third of the S&P 500 by market capitalization.
Another investment site, AJ Bell, pointed out that more investors are buying Polar Capital Technology Trust, highlighting that the largest holdings, such as NVIDIA, META, Microsoft and Apple, have become a more common investment since April 2nd.
