Cathie Wood Sells $49.4M In Tesla And Buys $87.5M In Ginkgo Bioworks On Dip As Stock Becomes Target Of Short Sellers

Cathie Wood-led Ark Invest on Wednesday snapped up shares in Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings Inc DNA on the day the synthetic biology company stock was hit hard by two back-to-back short-seller reports that called the company a “colossal scam” and “a scheme.”

The popular money manager bought 8.26 million shares — estimated to be worth $87.5 million — in the Boston, Massachusetts-based biotech company.

Shares of the company, which sank as much as 24% during the day, pared the losses to close 11.6% lower at $10.59 a share on Wednesday.

Ark Invest has been piling up shares in Ginkgo Bioworks, a company that specializes in using genetic engineering to produce bacteria with industrial applications since it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange last month.

The asset management firm owns the stock via the Ark Genomic Revolution ETF ARKG and the Ark Innovation ETF ARKK.

The two ETFs together held 26 million shares — worth $311.67 million — in Ginkgo Bioworks ahead of Wednesday’s trade. 

Besides Ark Invest, Bill Gates is the other known high-profile investor in the biotech company.

Ginkgo Bioworks stock dived on Wednesday after short-seller Scorpion Capital alleged the company is a "Frankenstein mash-up of the worst frauds." Later, Citron Research called Ginkgo "a scheme” and said the company’s recent $24 billion valuation is absurd given it raised capital in 2020 at roughly a $5 billion valuation.

Here are some of the other key trades for Ark on Wednesday:

• Sold 63,135 shares — estimated to be worth $49.4 million — in Tesla Inc TSLA. Including the latest sale, Wood’s Ark Invest has sold shares worth about $768 million in the Elon Musk-led company. Ark Invest continues to count Tesla as its largest exposure despite the sale. Tesla stock closed 0.28% higher at $782.75 a share on Wednesday.
• Bought 13,256 shares — estimated to be worth $3.17 million — in the Jack Dorsey-led payments company Square Inc SQ. Shares of the company closed 1.33% higher at $239.12 a share on Wednesday.