Hedge Funds to Watch in Facebook Fallout: DE Shaw, Appaloosa

(Bloomberg) -- Several prominent hedge funds could be among investors feeling the pain from Facebook Inc.’s recent plunge amid the Cambridge Analytica data crisis.

AQR Capital Management, Appaloosa Management, Coatue Management and D.E. Shaw & Co. were the stock’s top hedge fund holders as of Dec. 31, with a combined 21.9 million shares, data compiled by Bloomberg show. While they’re not obliged to provide a public update on those holdings until May and could have adjusted positions during the first quarter, holdings that remained unchanged may have suffered.

Facebook lost more than $134 billion in market value from its peak this year to Monday’s intraday low that followed the announcement of a Federal Trade Commission probe. Though shares have since recovered slightly, they remain down 14 percent this year.

AQR, the top hedge fund holder, boosted its stake by 2.9 million in the fourth quarter, bringing its total to 6.9 million, while Appaloosa added 2.2 million shares. Coatue actually trimmed its position, though still held 4.9 million shares at year-end.

D.E. Shaw more than doubled its stake in Facebook to 4.55 million shares, worth approximately $803 million at year-end, filings show. The fund also piled into another company’s stock that has been hard hit, General Electric Co., which has plunged 23 percent this year -- they added 28.6 million shares, the most of any other hedge fund in the fourth quarter.

Representatives for Coatue and AQR declined to comment. Appaloosa and D.E. Shaw representatives didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brad Olesen in New York at bolesen3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Arie Shapira at ashapira3@bloomberg.net, Josh Friedman

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