George Soros' family office, Soros Fund Management LLC, boosted its exposure to Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. and initiated a position in Tesla Inc. in the second quarter.

This article is part of a series on large institutional investors. All institutional investment managers active in the U.S. with over $100 million in investments in Form 13F securities must file quarterly statements detailing their positions.

Amazon, Alphabet and Tesla

Amazon was Soros Fund Management's second-largest holding at June 30 according to the most recent Form 13F: The family office's stake had a market value of $212.9 million. The position increased 41.7% during the quarter accounting for the 20-for-1 stock split in June to just over 2 million shares, representing the highest share count since the end of 2015. The family office has traded in and out of Amazon for many years, most recently exiting a stake in the first quarter of 2019 and starting to buy it back in the fourth quarter of 2020.

The position in Alphabet, its eighth-largest common stock holding, was up 10.4% to over 1 million shares accounting for the 20-for-1 stock split in July. The family office also has frequently modified its stakes in Alphabet. The peak position was at June 30, 2013, with greater than 16 million shares, and the current position was initiated in the second quarter of 2019.

Soros Fund Management bought 29,883 shares of Tesla worth $20.1 million at June 30, in its largest common stock initiation that was not a merger target or an option position. The family office's ownership history with Tesla's common stock is sparse. The only other disclosed holdings were as of March 31, 2017, at 2,000 shares, and June 30, 2014, at 355,250 shares.

Other common stock holdings

The seven largest new common stock holdings, excluding call positions, were merger targets. Three were acquired subsequent to June 30: American Campus Communities Inc., Meritor Inc. and Welbilt Inc. The four pending targets are Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd., Alleghany Corp., GCP Applied Technologies Inc. and Turning Point Therapeutics Inc.

M&A also was the theme for the three largest portfolio exits that were not puts or calls. Cerner Corp., MGM Growth Properties LLC and Zynga Inc., with March 31 position values of $255.4 million, $128.2 million and $122.0 million, respectively, were acquired in the second quarter.

Soros Fund Management sold nearly all of its stake in JPMorgan Chase & Co. while more than doubling the positions in Salesforce Inc., indie Semiconductor Inc. and Interactive Brokers Group Inc.

Rivian Automotive Inc. was the largest disclosed holding for the third-straight quarter at $459.1 million, even after the family office sold 10.1% of its stake. Rivian's share price continued to experience substantial volatility in the second quarter, ranging from $19.25 to $50.26 on an intraday basis. Additionally, Soros Fund Management no longer reported a call position in Rivian; in the previous quarter, that position had an implied value of more than $300 million.

* Click here for Soros Fund Management's current public holdings. * Read some of the top news and insights from S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Exchange-traded funds

Within the ETF space, Soros Fund Management took a more bullish stance on energy stocks and the broader U.S. stock market. New positions were ordinary shares in VanEck Oil Services ETF and call positions in Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 and Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund. Exits included a put position in QQQ with an implied value of $362.5 million at March 31, as well as puts for the SPDR energy ETF and the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund.