Dan Loeb Boosts Microsoft and Meta Stakes by 175% and 47% Amid 2025 Tech Volatility

Dan Loeb’s Third Point boosts stakes in Microsoft by 175% and Meta by 47%, signaling aggressive investment in AI amid 2025 tech volatility.

Staff

Published

2 hours ago

Activist investor Dan Loeb’s Third Point LLC made significant adjustments to its portfolio in the third quarter of 2025, particularly increasing stakes in key technology firms. Notably, the firm enhanced its holdings in the so-called Magnificent Seven stocks, taking advantage of the ongoing strength in the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.

As of September 30, 2025, Third Point raised its stake in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) by 175% to approximately 1.1 million shares. This surge in investment comes in light of Microsoft’s robust earnings acceleration driven by growth in its cloud and AI segments. The tech giant exceeded consensus estimates in both the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025 and the first quarter of fiscal year 2026. In October, Microsoft announced a definitive agreement with OpenAI to support the establishment of a public benefit corporation, positioning the tech company to hold a roughly 27% stake in OpenAI Group PBC, valued at around $135 billion. Analysts, including Dan Ives of Wedbush, suggest that Microsoft could soon join Nvidia in the $5 trillion market capitalization club, asserting that fiscal year 2026 may represent a crucial inflection point for AI growth at the company.

Despite these positive developments, Microsoft’s stock has seen a slight decline of 0.47% over the past year, underperforming the iShares U.S. Technology ETF (NYSE:IYW), which increased by approximately 18.88%. This performance is particularly notable in comparison to peers like Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL), which fell around 5.61% year-to-date.

In a parallel move, Third Point also increased its stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) by 47% to 220,000 shares as of the end of September. CEO Mark Zuckerberg highlighted the potential profitability of Meta’s investments in smart glasses and augmented reality technology. The company has committed to invest over $600 billion in the U.S. by 2028 to enhance AI technology, data centers, and workforce capabilities, driving forward its ambition of achieving “personal superintelligence” for users. Among these initiatives, Meta has earmarked more than $1 billion for the construction of a data center in Wisconsin dedicated to supporting AI work. However, Meta’s stock has declined by 1.69% in the last year, lagging behind the Shares Global Comm Services ETF (NYSE:IXP), which rose by about 19.60%. This trend is further exacerbated when compared to Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ:BIDU), whose stocks surged approximately 65.54% and 95.52%, respectively, this year.

Third Point’s involvement with Nvidia has also intensified, as it raised its stake to 2.85 million shares from 2.8 million in the second quarter of 2025. Nvidia recently reported stronger-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and has provided an optimistic revenue estimate for the fourth quarter. The demand for its latest AI chips continues to soar, which could lead total revenue for its Blackwell and Rubin platforms to exceed a previously announced target of $500 billion through 2026. Furthermore, Nvidia’s GB300 platform is anticipated to dominate the AI server market, comprising an estimated 70% to 80% of global AI server rack shipments by 2026. Recent company moves include expanding partnerships in the Middle East to enhance AI infrastructure and backing a fast-growing AI infrastructure startup, Baseten, with a $150 million investment. Nevertheless, Nvidia shares have appreciated by 24.55% over the last year, underperforming the VanEck Fabless Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMHX), which saw a gain of about 25.60% and the Strive U.S. Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SHOC), which escalated 51.12% over the same period.

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) also saw increased investment from Third Point, which raised its stake to 2.81 million shares from 2.71 million in the preceding quarter. The company exceeded earnings estimates for the third quarter and provided a strong outlook for the fourth quarter, primarily due to a 20% year-over-year surge in AWS sales. Amazon highlighted advancements in AI across several of its platforms, reaffirming momentum in cloud services demand through new AWS agreements. However, Amazon’s shares declined by around 1.58% over the past year, falling short of the gains experienced by peers such as Alibaba Group (NYSE:BABA) and PDD Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PDD), which appreciated by 95.22% and 2.76%, respectively.

These strategic maneuvers by Dan Loeb’s Third Point underscore a focused investment approach in technology firms leveraging AI, despite a backdrop of market volatility for the sector in 2025. As interest in AI technologies continues to expand, the performance and strategic positioning of these major players may prove crucial in the coming fiscal year.