First SoftBank and then Peter Thiel dumps Nvidia position as talk of AI bubble intensifies

By Jules Rimmer

Tech-sector investor fully exited Nvidia's stock last quarter

Thiel, a co-founder of PayPal and the first outside investor in Facebook, seen in November 2016 at Trump Tower in Manhattan.

A previous version of this report misspelled the surname of SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son. The story has been corrected.

A week after Japan's richest man disclosed that his firm fully divested his $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia, one of America's richest, Peter Thiel, has said he's done the same.

Given his status as one of the most influential tech investors, the announcement has done little to dispel notions that artificial-intelligence stocks are in a bubble or have peaked.

In its 13F filing for the quarter ending Sept. 30, Thiel's hedge fund, Thiel Macro LLC, revealed it had sold all 537,742 shares it held in Nvidia (NVDA). This position represented about 40% of the fund's total equity holdings, which now stand at $74 million, down from the $212 million at the end of June. At the same time, Thiel Macro disclosed it had also sold around a quarter of its holding in Tesla (TSLA), although Elon Musk's company is now the portfolio's largest position at 39%.

The strategic sales from Masayoshi Son-led SoftBank and Thiel, as well as the news that famed short seller Michael Burry had made a bearish bet against Nvidia, have come after sparkling second-quarter numbers saw Nvidia's sales rise 56% to $46.7 billion, and it became the first stock to reach a landmark $5 trillion market capitalization in October.

Analysts expect revenue to reach $54.89 billion when Nvidia reports third-quarter results after the close on Wednesday.

Tech stocks, though, have been under pressure lately, owing to concerns about elevated valuations and scrutiny of recent deals and the appearance of circular spending and investment.

While some investors may be alarmed at the development, given Thiel's prominence as a venture capitalist, as a founder of PayPal (PYPL) and the first outside investor in Facebook (META), they may be reassured to note that Facebook's shares have done pretty well since Thiel exited his stake back in 2012, and that in the past three months he did reinvest some of the proceeds into Microsoft (MSFT) and Apple (AAPL).

Moreover, market worries may be eased after Berkshire Hathaway revealed it had built up a $4.3 billion position in Alphabet (GOOG) (GOOGL), making the Google parent the 10th-biggest equity holding of the Warren Buffett-helmed Berkshire.

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Despite stalling somewhat in the past few weeks, Nvidia's shares are still up 41% in 2025, outperforming most of its "Magnificent 7" cohort, except for Alphabet. In premarket trading Monday morning, Nvidia shares were roughly 1% lower.

-Jules Rimmer

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11-17-25 0743ET