- Cathie Wood's internet fund has snapped up $11 million in Microsoft shares – a first for the Ark ETF.
- Microsoft has attracted bullish views thanks to its $10 billion investment in buzzy AI tool ChatGPT.
Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood is catching up with the ChatGPT hype, now that her internet fund has loaded up on Microsoft stock for the first time.
The Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) snapped up 40,957 shares in Microsoft on Monday, according to a company trading update. That's worth over $11 million, based on the stock's closing price of $272.23 that day.
While Ark's 3D printing fund owns Microsoft shares, the purchase is a first for its internet-focused exchange-traded fund. The internet ETF has added the old-school Big Tech — its fifth-smallest holding — to Coinbase, Roku, Tesla and Zoom.
Microsoft has become closely tied to artificial intelligence after it invested $10 billion into OpenAI, the company behind buzzy AI tool ChatGPT.
Analysts have made bullish calls for the company's stock for its growing partnership with ChatGPT. Credit Suisse expects Microsoft to gain $40 billion in revenue over the next five-plus year thanks to its investment.
So far this year, shares in Microsoft have risen about 13%, gaining 7% in the past month alone.
Wood has long been a champion of AI, saying it could increase global labor productivity. She's also said she's pleased to see that ChatGPT has captured the imagination of investors who typically shun companies focused on disruption innovation.
The Microsoft buy marks a bit of a shift for the famed money manager herself. Microsoft is one of the Nasdaq 100's top heavyweights, and Wood said last month the tech-heavy benchmark index doesn't give exposure to disruptive innovation any more, yet one of her funds has now dipped into the stock.
The ARK internet fund has returned 31% as of the end of February, according to the company. The ETF's price is up about 40% this year so far, after a dismal 2022 where it lost 68%.