A hedge fund with an impressive $24 billion portfolio, founded by ex-OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, has completely liquidated its public stock holdings following substantial losses associated with artificial intelligence firms and an ill-fated bet against software stocks. Sources familiar with the situation report that the fund managed to exit all public investments in a single significant transaction with another prominent hedge fund.
The investments in public equities, encompassing both long and short positions, constituted nearly two-thirds of Situational Awareness's overall assets. Recently, the fund faced considerable setbacks due to a downturn in its AI infrastructure investments, such as SK Hynix, while its short positions in software companies like Adobe performed poorly.
In response to these challenges, several leading prime brokers—Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase—were collaborating with the fund to help meet margin requirements and facilitate an orderly reduction of their positions. Prior to the trading session on Thursday, brokers were actively marketing a collection of the fund’s long and short holdings.
Ultimately, it seems they have secured a buyer for the entirety of the public stock portfolio. While Situational Awareness will continue its operations as a firm, it will now focus solely on private investments, according to insiders.
