Billionaire Investor Ole Andreas Halvorsen Sold His Hedge Fund's Entire Stake in Nike, Netflix, and Meta and Bought 3 Insurance Stocks Instead

In the 1990s, a group of research analysts worked at a prominent hedge fund, Tiger Management, led by the legendary investor Julian Robertson. After Tiger closed down, many of these analysts went on to found their own funds, most of which heavily focused on the burgeoning tech sector. This group of investors that spun off from Tiger Management are known as the Tiger Cubs.

One of, if not the most successful, in this group is the billionaire investor Ole Andreas Halvorsen, who hails from Norway and served as the director of equities at Tiger Management in the 1990s. Today, Halvorsen runs the hedge fund, Viking Global Investors, which manages over $37.6 billion in assets at the end of 2025.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, Viking made notable changes to its portfolio, exiting its positions in Nike (NYSE: NKE), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) and piling into three insurance stocks.

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Selling Nike, Netflix, and Meta

Nike, Netflix, and Meta had all been notable positions in Viking's portfolio, accounting for about 5% of the fund's capital. Each company experienced significant developments in 2025 and drew significant interest from the market.

Nike has been trying to engineer a significant turnaround after several years of struggles, due to rising competition in the luxury apparel space, an overemphasis on promotional online offers, and what some consider a lack of focus in the iconic company's branding. In late 2024, Nike pulled veteran Elliott Hill out of retirement to lead the turnaround.

But, as with most turnarounds, the plan appears to be taking longer than expected to execute, and President Donald Trump's tariffs have not helped the cause. It's possible that Halvorsen and his team simply thought the turnaround would take too long.

Netflix has been in the midst of a heated battle to acquire certain Warner Bros. Discovery assets. While the company has an agreement in place, Paramount Skydance has been in hot pursuit and does not seem to be going away, recently offering an improved bid to Warner Bros. Discovery's board of directors.

Many investors didn't like Netflix's decision to pursue such a large acquisition because the firm isn't a proven acquirer and has been succeeding with its organic growth strategy. If Netflix ultimately moves forward with the acquisition, it will also face regulatory scrutiny.

Meta's stock struggled in 2025, largely as investors grew increasingly nervous about the large artificial intelligence-related capital expenditure plans of the hyperscalers, as well as competition from other social platforms in the digital adtech space, such as ByteDance's TikTok.

Investing heavily in the insurance space

During the quarter, Viking initiated new positions in the insurance stocks UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), Chubb (NYSE: CB), and Progressive (NYSE: PGR). At the end of 2025, each of these positions was worth between $300 million and $400 million. Each is quite different, and each stock has generated different performances over the past year.

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UnitedHealth Group is the largest healthcare insurer in the U.S., providing a range of different plans for individuals, families, and employers, as well as Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans. The company has struggled due to declining Medicare Advantage membership, higher utilization rates, and the company's first projected decline in revenue in nearly 40 years in 2026.

However, with the stock down nearly 40% over the past year and valuation also cheap historically, several hedge funds have taken positions in UnitedHealth, given the company's pricing power, which enables it to raise premiums to offset the issues mentioned above over time.

Progressive is one of the largest property and casualty (P&C) insurers in the U.S. The stock has struggled as investors expect the P&C insurance space to soften, leading to higher competition, typically lower rates for consumers, and, therefore, less revenue for insurance companies. But the stock is now cheap, trading at under 13 times forward earnings, so if you're a long-term investor looking for some exposure to the insurance sector, it's a good time to buy.

Chubb is another P&C company with an even larger market cap than Progressive, specializing in insuring expensive homes, luxury vehicles, and specialty businesses, among others. The company is coming off its best year in 2025, and management just essentially guided for double-digit earnings growth. The company also trades at a fairly cheap 12.4 times forward earnings, although investors may be cautious about its exposure to wildfires, which has been significantly reduced.

Bram Berkowitz has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Meta Platforms, Netflix, Nike, Progressive, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The Motley Fool recommends UnitedHealth Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.