Tesla billionaire buys more Nvidia to ‘calm the nervous market’

[KUALA LUMPUR] Billionaire Leo Koguan doubled his stake in Nvidia to two million shares, boosting his investment in the chipmaker at a time when the war in the Middle East has sparked a global sell-off of everything from bonds to equities.

“As promised, I bought additional one million shares of NVDA today,” the investor posted early on Saturday (Mar 7) on X, days after he announced his first purchase.

While small relative to his US$13.4 billion fortune, as measured by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the acquisition is a notable move by Koguan whose net worth for years largely has been tied up in just one stock: Tesla.

The timing is also noteworthy. Global equity indexes have broadly trended down since the US and Israel began their military campaign against Iran last month, and some worry that asset prices will fall further if the fighting drags on.

Nvidia has fallen about 5 per cent this year through Friday’s close, while Tesla is down nearly 12 per cent, compared with a less-than 2 per cent drop in the S&P 500.

KoGuan, who is estimated to have spent roughly US$350 million to acquire his Nvidia shares based on their recent closing prices, did not comment about his purchase beyond saying that, “Hopefully, I can contribute a little to calm the nervous market. Good luck all.” BLOOMBERG