Surf Air Mobility: Issued & Sold To Palantir Technologies 4.9 Million Shares Of Common Stock For In-Kind Services Worth $2 Million

On Tuesday, Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest made significant adjustments to its portfolio, offloading a substantial number of shares in Tesla Inc and scooping up a hefty stake in Palantir Technologies Inc .

The Tesla Trade

Ark Invest reduced its stake in Tesla across two of its ETFs — ARK Innovation ETF and ARK Next Generation Internet ETF . The firm sold 56,425 and 6,442 shares respectively, the transaction was valued at $14.54 million. On Tuesday, Tesla shares closed 10.2% higher at $231.26, driven higher by the second-quarter delivery report of the company. The numbers came ahead of the consensus estimate.

This move comes despite Wood’s previous statements, where she referred to the Elon Musk-led automaker as the “biggest AI project” in the world and predicted the stock to reach $2,000 per share in the coming years.

As recently as June, Ark Invest set a new price target for Tesla at $2,600 for 2029, heavily revolving around the company’s autonomous vehicle ambitions.

The Palantir Trade

On the same day, Ark Invest, through its ARK Autonomous Technology & Robotics ETF , purchased 37,053 shares of Palantir worth $957,078.

This investment comes as the AI sector gains momentum, with Palantir being described as the “Messi of AI,” and “probably the most underestimated AI play, maybe tech play, in the market today” by Dan Ives, the managing director at Wedbush.

Notably, Ark Invest picked up Palantir shares worth $5.16 million just a day earlier.

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Other Key Trades:

• Ark Invest sold shares of Teladoc Health Inc from its ARKF ETF.
• The firm also sold shares of Twist Bioscience Corp from its ARKG ETF.
• Ark Invest bought shares of Recursion Pharmaceuticals Inc and shares of Intellia Therapeutics Inc for its ARKG ETF.

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This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Shivdeep Dhaliwal

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

Each trading day features hundreds of headlines and press releases on Benzinga Pro, a source for traders to see the latest news on the overall market and individual tickers.

Here is a look at the most-searched stocks on Benzinga Pro for the first half of 2024. Current prices and year-to-date performances are based on June 30 and do not include dividends. April search results were not tracked.

• NVIDIA Corporation

• Price: $123.54
• 52-Week Range: $39.23 to $140.76
• Year-to-Date Return: +149.5%
• January/February/March Search Rank: 3rd/1st/1st
• May/June Search Rank: 2nd/1st

Last week, at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Palantir Technologies co-founder Peter Thiel underscored the pivotal role founders play in the success of their companies while giving the example of Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

What Happened: Thiel’s remarks were part of a broader conversation about his book “Zero to One.” When asked about his perspective on the role of founders, especially those with unconventional or extreme personalities, Thiel asserted that many prosperous companies were founded by individuals who viewed their business as a life project.

He further explained that these founders often possess unique visions and are capable of creating something extraordinary over time. Despite their extreme personalities and potential blind spots, Thiel argued that their contribution is “massively advantageous” compared to hiring a professional CEO.

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Thiel used the example of Facebook, now rebranded as Meta, founder Zuckerberg, who rejected a $1 billion acquisition offer from Yahoo in 2006. He pointed out that a professional CEO would have likely accepted the offer, highlighting the unique perspective and dedication founders bring to their companies.

“If you had a professional CEO, it would have just been ‘man I can't believe they're offering us a billion dollars. I'm going to try not to be too eager. We better take the money and run,'” he said referring to Zuckerberg.

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Why It Matters: Thiel was an early backer of Facebook. He invested $500,000 in the company in 2004, which gave him a significant stake. He also served on Facebook’s board of directors for many years, stepping down from the board in 2022.

His latest comments resonate with the historical context of Zuckerberg’s decision to decline Yahoo’s $1 billion offer. According to a 2017 Business Insider report, Zuckerberg’s refusal was controversial at the time.

However, his decision has since been vindicated, with Meta boasting a market cap of $1.280 trillion, making it the seventh most valuable company in the world.

Previously, Zuckerberg also discussed his thought process when these deals were offered. In conversation with Dwarkesh Patel, the Meta CEO was asked, “Did you write down in your head like ‘I think the actual valuation of Facebook at the time is this and they're not actually getting the valuation right?' If they’d offered you $5 trillion, of course, you would have sold. So how did you think about that choice?”

Zuckerberg admitted that he wasn't “sophisticated enough to do that analysis” at the time. However, he had people presenting arguments both for and against the deals. “It was very far ahead of where we were at the time. I didn't really have the financial sophistication to really engage with that kind of debate,” he said.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.