Bernard Arnault says his family office bought nearly 20% of Netflix early but sold too soon, missing a tenfold gain. The stake could be worth $60 billion today.
Bernard Arnault said he regrets selling his family office's early stake in Netflix (NFLX) too soon, missing a tenfold gain.
The LVMH billionaire discussed the investment on the "Legend" podcast, aired earlier this month. Speaking in French, Arnault told host Guillaume Pley his family office acquired "nearly 20% of Netflix" shortly after its launch. He called the wager a "huge success."
Arnault said he "sold too soon." His Groupe Arnault invested $30 million in Netflix in July 1999, becoming the largest investor two years after the company's founding, according to news reports from that period. Netflix was still privately owned and mailing rented DVDs to customers.
Arnault's team sold much of the position by summer 2003, when Netflix's market capitalization was about $500 million. The company's market cap has since grown to roughly $300 billion. A 20% stake would be worth about $60 billion today.
Arnault also said during the podcast that he invested in a US fund liquidated during the dot-com crash. He received a "big batch" of Google shares when they were trading around $2 to $3 each. "We didn't know Google back then," Arnault said. "We sold them somewhere along the line." He noted they "made a good profit."
Google, now Alphabet (GOOGL), has seen its market capitalization jump from below $30 billion at its 2004 IPO to around $4 trillion.
Despite selling Netflix and Google stock early, Arnault has thrived. His estimated $156 billion fortune makes him the wealthiest non-American on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, richer than Warren Buffett.
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