Third largest single shareholder
How Leo Koguan persistently became the “secret Tesla billionaire”
The Tesla shares brought in several billion for a loyal investor (symbol photo)
© Alexander Pohl
The Tesla share has recently continued to climb – much to the delight of investors. One man earned several billion dollars from the extreme rise in shares: Leo Koguan is therefore also known as the “secret Tesla billionaire”.
It’s an extreme increase: Compared to 2020, Tesla stock has posted an increase of almost 200 percent. It is currently commuting around the 1000 euro mark. While things are going very well for Elon Musk’s company, the Chinese investor Leo Koguan quietly rubs his hands: The 66-year-old has earned several billion US dollars thanks to the extreme increase in the value of Tesla shares.
In September his profit was four billion dollars, in October it was more than five billion dollars – and now, in early November, “the secret Tesla billionaire”, as he is referred to by “Manager-Magazin”, has a total of more than seven Billion dollars. When the car rental company Hertz announced an order for 100,000 Teslas by the end of 2022 last week, the electric carmaker’s share rose by around 13 percent in one day. Koguan then announced that his daily profit was in the ten-digit range.
“I’m all in. All of my liquid assets are in Tesla,” he wrote on Twitter. In September he had already tweeted: “I believe in Elon Musk’s great mission.” At the end of September, the 66-year-old finally owned 6.31 million Tesla shares. In addition, he is said to have a good 1.8 million options, which give him the right to buy Tesla shares for between 450 and 550 US dollars – that is, for about half the price. This makes Koguan the third largest single shareholder in Tesla. In front of him in first place is Tesla boss Elon Musk himself, in second place Larry Ellison, the founder of the US software manufacturer Oracle.
Leo Koguan focuses solely on Tesla stocks
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose,” summarizes Koguan. “Fortunately, I win more than I lose.” According to his own statements, the Tesla billionaire only started equity investments in 2019. Before he focused fully on Tesla, he diversified his investments in various stocks, including the Chinese search engine Baidu, the Chinese e-car maker Nio and the graphics card developer Nvidia. But after initial success, his investments got worse and worse.
Koguan recommends: Focus on one stock – in this case, Tesla. Keep doubling down – and the most important thing is to trust Elon Musk. The 66-year-old invested as a private individual. Since his stake in Tesla is below the five percent threshold, he does not have to disclose his shares to US regulators.
When the stock markets crashed last year due to the corona crisis, things also went bad for Leo Koguan. In the spring of 2020, he held around 2.3 million Tesla shares valued at $ 1.5 billion. The 66-year-old reports: “In March 2020 I had lost almost everything.” Koguan’s reaction: he kept buying stocks and options. He reinvested his profits directly in stocks and in new call options. Because despite the stock market crash, he continued to believe in Tesla and in a quick recovery in the share. Precisely before such a procedure, financial experts advise investors against putting their money on only one share.
Investment goal of $ 100 billion
Koguan was wealthy even before his big stock hit. The qualified lawyer is Chairman of the US software company SHI in New Jersey, the company has annual sales of around six billion euros. Around half of it belongs to Koguan. The 66-year-old had started small: In 1989 he bought an insolvent software company from which he created SHI. He also donated millions to several top Chinese universities.
According to Forbes, Koguan’s net worth is $ 9.4 billion, the equivalent of around 8.1 billion euros. His goal is to make a fortune of $ 100 billion to provide free health care for the people of China.
Sources: Bloomberg, Manager magazine