Billionaires Bet on AI Stocks as Nasdaq Rises

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The Nasdaq Composite entered a new bull market this year, a shimmering mirage of growth that’s left investors clutching their coffee cups like they’re holding the last tickets to a rocket ride. Since 1990, the index has averaged 31% annual returns during bull markets. Seems reasonable to expect more of the same by 2026. But what catches the eye-and the wallets of hedge fund titans-are two names: Meta Platforms and Alphabet. Billionaires are buying these like they’re the last snacks at a party where everyone’s on their second martini.

  • Stanley Druckenmiller, a man who’s made his fortune thinking about markets like a chess player thinks about checkmate, added 76,100 shares of Meta and 102,200 of Alphabet. That’s 2% of his portfolio. One might say he’s hedging his bets, but maybe he’s just preparing for the apocalypse. So it goes.
  • Israel Englander, of Millennium Management, went bigger: 793,500 Meta and 2.2 million Alphabet shares. They’re now his eighth- and fifth-largest holdings. One wonders if he’s shopping for the future or simply ensuring his heirs have something to fight over. So it goes.
  • Ken Griffin, Citadel’s titan, acquired 1.4 million Meta shares and 2.5 million Alphabet. The latter remains a smaller position, but that’s like calling a glacier “a snowball.” So it goes.
  • Philippe Laffont, at Coatue, bought 355,000 Meta and 7.3 million Alphabet, now his largest and third-largest bets. One suspects he’s not worried about the market going sideways. So it goes.

Here’s what you need to know, dear reader: the game’s rigged, the dice are loaded, and yet we all play anyway. Let’s dissect these two stocks with the solemnity they deserve-or don’t.

Meta Platforms

Meta owns three of the four most popular social media networks. That’s a feat of digital herding, like corralling a trillion socks into one drawer. The real prize isn’t the platforms themselves but the data they hoover up: what makes humans click, swipe, and stare. AI recommendation systems now parse this information into ad gold. CEO Mark Zuckerberg claims these systems are “delivering higher quality and more relevant content.” Fine. But when your time on Threads jumps 10%, is that progress-or a digital cage? So it goes.

Third-quarter results were sturdier than a vending machine door: $51 billion in revenue, $7.25 per share. The promise of 26% growth makes investors salivate, but the caveat about “notably larger” 2026 capital expenditures made the stock wobble. Investors love a winner but detest a builder-capital expenditures are the exorcist in the room with the wine. So it goes.

Wall Street expects 17% annual growth. At 30 times earnings, Meta’s not a bargain, but it’s 15% off its highs. Bargain hunters might call it a sale on ruin. Or, as Vonnegut might whisper, the cradle of the future. So it goes.

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Alphabet

Alphabet’s a leviathan. Its tentacles grip Google and YouTube, siphoning data from the digital abyss. The rise of AI tools like ChatGPT once threatened its search dominance. But Alphabet, like a procrastinator before a deadline, adapted. It launched AI Overviews and AI Mode, tools that might as well be metaphors for our species’ relentless self-importance. So it goes.

Google Cloud is the third-largest public cloud, gaining ground on AI infrastructure. Gartner calls it the most “capable” for AI development. Forrester nods too. But organic search traffic could fall 50% by 2028, and Alphabet’s stock has already climbed 70% this year. Is it overvalued? Maybe. But at 32 times earnings and 16% expected growth, it’s still a dining car on the Titanic. So it goes.

Third-quarter results were robust-$102 billion in revenue, $2.87 per share. CFO Anat Ashkenazi talked up AI demand. Investors, ever the optimists, nodded like bobbleheads. Maybe they all just want a little hope in a zoo of chaos. So it goes.

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2025-12-08 13:08