Cathie Wood’s ARK Snapped Up Robinhood Before Data Breach Hit Shares

(Bloomberg) -- Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management snapped up more shares of Robinhood Markets Inc. on Monday, adding to its bets not long before the trading platform revealed it had suffered a cyber attack.

That data breach hit shares of both Robinhood and the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF or ARKF, with the online brokerage sliding 3.4%. The ARKF fund declined 1.2% to its lowest level in nearly two weeks. 

The asset manager has bought shares of Robinhood for various funds just about every trading day since Oct. 25, documents show. On Monday, the ARK Fintech Innovation ETF bought 91,323 shares in the online broker, according to fund disclosures that may not represent all of the firm’s activities.  

Then after the market closed, Robinhood said it had experienced a data breach compromising information from about 7 million accounts.  

Cathie Wood has been vocal about her firm’s five-year investment horizon, and the fact that many of her holdings can see big price moves day-to-day. Robinhood itself has been the source of some of those fluctuations: it dropped 10% on Oct. 27, the day after it disclosed quarterly results that fell short of analysts’ expectations.

ARK Investment is the fifth-largest holder in Robinhood with a roughly 2.1% stake, according to Bloomberg data. ARK didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The pain for both companies may well be temporary. Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Elliott Stein wrote that “legal fallout from Robinhood’s data breach disclosed on Nov. 8 should be minimal.” He estimates prior fines for hacked accounts suggest a Robinhood penalty of about $10 million.

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