Meet The Little Known Mystery Billionaire That Secretly Amassed $7 Billion Worth Of Tesla Stock

While much of the cash made from the run-up in Tesla shares has been focused on Tesla insiders and well known U.S. based asset managers like Cathie Wood, there have also been some “secret” investors in the company that have made a killing on the stock’s meteoric rise. They’ve gone mostly unnoticed – until now, that is.

One such unnoticed beneficiary has “quietly amassed one of the single biggest stakes” in Tesla along the way, according to Bloomberg. Billionaire Leo KoGuan didn’t disclose until recently that he owned a substantial share in Tesla. His holdings have skyrocketed to more than $7 billion. 

The idea that KoGuan amassed the position without anybody noticing was dumbfounding to many. By KoGuan provided bank records to Bloomberg and proved that he owned 6.31 million shares of Tesla and 1.82 million options to buy the stock between $450 and $550 per share. 

The 66 year old, who lives in Singapore, told Bloomberg his strategy for investing was “stick to a single stock”, “keep doubling down” and “believe in Elon Musk”.

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Fortunately, I win more of the time than I lose,” he said.

KoGuan said he has added to his stake since September with both shares and options. He said that his gains on Monday, when the stock jumped 13%, were “in the ten figures”. 

Ever better is that KoGuan doesn’t seem interested in relinquishing his position anytime soon. “I’m all in. Any money I have I spend on Tesla,” he commented.

Little is known about KoGuan, but for the fact that he founded a software company in New Jersey that does $11.1 billion in revenue and that he recently bought the $47 million penthouse in Singapore that formerly belonged to James Dyson. 

Bloomberg described him as “exud[ing] a calm, scholarly demeanor”, noting that he had never granted an interview with a journalist before. 

He says he only picked up stock trading in 2019 and calls himself a “retail investor”. He has also bought shares of Baidu, Nio and Nvidia in the past. 

But then, he sold all of his positions except for Tesla. He credited Ron Baron, the billionaire owner of Baron Capital Management, for helping him focus on the car-maker. 

He began “pouring his money” into the stock and by early 2020 had amassed 2.3 million shares. When Covid happened, he says he lost “almost everything”.

But he kept buying. And his “simple playbook” on investing as it was described, seemed noteworthy: “buy short-term in-the-money stock options; take the profits when the stock goes up; use some of those proceeds to buy actual shares — and plow the rest into another options bet,” he told Bloomberg.

He says he has no plans to sell the majority of his wealth anytime soon. He concluded: “I look at it like a squirrel. You collect acorns and you eat some. But most you are trying to keep for the winter and you don’t eat until later.”