If you have...

The secret Tesla investor

The price rally of Tesla shares has not only made Elon Musk the richest person on Earth. Also investor Leo Koguan from Singapore - which had first lost a lot of money with Tesla investments in spring 2020 - is now a few billions richer and became a Tesla major shareholder. How did he do that?

While Tesla shares stand out like a SpaceX rocket and Tesla boss Elon Musk (now more than $300 billion heavy) keeps the world in suspense with ever new plans, an investor in Singapore has quietly and quietly risen to a multiple Tesla (stock) billionaire within a short time: Leo Koguan, born in Indonesia, living in Singapore and founder of the software company SHI International. Mr. Koguan was already rich when he came to the conclusion - in 2019 - that Tesla was actually quite a good investment idea. Now, about two years later, the silent investor is really rich.

"I believe in Elon Musk and his mission," Koguan had told the world via Twitter in September. Since then, Tesla fans like Tesla skeptics have been able to follow how the value of Koguan's Tesla shares stand out: $4 billion in September, more than $5 billion in October - and now, at the beginning of November, more than $7 billion.

How iIs it possible that a silent investor from the Far East can become Tesla's third largest individual shareholder within a short time, just behind Tesla boss Elon Musk and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, the Bloomberg business agency asked with scepticism.

But according to Bloomberg research, this is the case: At the end of September, Koguan had already held 6.3 million Tesla shares, as can be seen from bank documents. In addition, there are almost two million options that give him the right to buy Tesla shares at the price between $450 and 550 - i.e. for less than half of the current Tesla stock exchange rate of around $1200.

The man apparently did everything right. At the same time, he has probably thrown up all the rules of reason, diversification and risk control over the past two years.

"Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," the Tesla shareholder summarises his experiences as a Tesla investor towards Bloomberg. Fortunately, I win more often than I lose.

His recipe: Focus on one stock - in this case Tesla. Always trust Elon Musk. And buy diligently with every weakness in the course.

As chairman of the New Jersey-based US software company SHI and as a successful real estate investor, Koguan already had the necessary means at the start to join Tesla with a significant amount. Since he invested only as a private individual and his share in Tesla is still well below the threshold of 5 percent, he was not obliged to disclose his shares to the US regulators - and thus rose to the Tesla tycoon practically unnoticed.

Koguan simply diligently continued to buy, bought both shares and purchase options - and always remained bullish for the share of the electric car manufacturer. When Tesla shares increased by around 14 percent in one day last week due to a major order from car rental company Hertz, Koguan tweeted: "I'm all in. All my liquid assets are in Tesla."

According to Koguan, he did not start equity investments until 2019. Previously, he had rather attracted attention by supporting several top Chinese universities with millions of donations. About a year ago, Koguan also bought James Dyson's luxury penthouse, which extends over three floors in the tallest building of Singapore, at the price of 46 million US dollars. The British vacuum cleaner king and Brexit fan Dyson had temporarily withdrawn to Singapore after Brexit, but had then decided to sell the top address again with a loss of around 8 million dollars.

Koguan's equity investments were initially broader - shares of Baidu, Nio or Nvidia were also part of his portfolio. But after a few months, he focused exclusively on Tesla. Ron Baron, the founder of Baron Capital Management, convinced him in a podcast published by Dave Lee to concentrate his capital on the US electric car manufacturer. Koguan bought shares and options, in spring 2020 and he held around 2.4 million Tesla shares (after the 1:5 share split, this is around 12 million shares today) worth roughly 1.5 billion dollars.

But then came the corona crash. "In March 2020, I had lost almost everything," says Koguan.

But Koguan retained faith in Tesla. He also did not let some margin calls make him nervous when some of his option bets collapsed. Instead, he continued to buy stocks and options: As soon as the options dropped profits, he invested them partly in stocks and partly in new call options. He continued and more money on a rapid recovery of Tesla shares - and the risky bet was made.

Of course, it is highly unreasonable to bet everything on one stock. But then it seems that he can afford it, because he has already diversified his assets. According to Bloomberg, his share of SHI is worth around three billion dollars. With such company assets behind you, you can probably play a little with Tesla shares.

But the gentleman's rise was remarkable even before his Tesla investments: Born in Indonesia as the son of Chinese parents, he soon moved to the USA and studied at the New York Law School. He spent his "best years" in a entrenched apartment in Manhattan's Morningside Heights, the investor explained to the Wall Street Journal. In 1989, he bought an insolvent software company, from which he then formed SHI. The company's annual sales of around 6 billion dollars give today's chairman enough income to support various universities or his Tesla investment.

How much money will Koguan, now weighing more than $7 billion, still invest in Tesla?

Will he take profits with him when the hype about Tesla subsides?

No, the investor informs the world. His goal is to achieve 100 billion dollars - this sum is necessary to implement a concept that enables people in China to provide free health care.

Big goals. Until then, Koguan still has to make a few Tesla bets and win.