Carl Icahn. REUTERS/Jeff Zelevansky
Carl Icahn was not able to capture more than $40 billion in gains on Apple stock and Netflix stock.
The investor placed a large bet on Netflix and Apple in 2012, but he lost his money a few years later.
Icahn called both bets "no-brainers", but left large sums of money on the table.
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Carl Icahn sold his huge stakes in Netflix, Apple and other companies more than five years ago. He missed out on potential gains of over $40 billion.
Icahn Enterprises Chairman and billionaire investor, Icahn, first purchased Netflix stock in the 3rd quarter 2012 and quickly amassed up to 38.5 million shares adjusted for the 7-for-1 stock split of 2015.
Icahn stated that Netflix was an obvious choice when they first started looking into it in June 2015. He cited the company's large war chest.
The value of Icahn’s approximately 9% stake in Netflix climbed to more than $1.7 billion in the latter part 2013. The investor reduced the stake over the next few months and then sold the entire holding in the second quarter 2015.
He explained that he was a veteran of seven bear market crashes and had made a total return in excess of 457% within 14 months. It was time to cash in on the opportunity.
He might regret his decision today. Netflix stock has risen more than 10 times since Icahn left, closing at $613 on Friday. The stake of the investor would have been worth approximately $24 billion at its peak.
Icahn also made a similar investment in Apple. In the third quarter 2013, he made his first investment in Apple. He increased his stake to 211,000,000 shares by mid-2014. This was adjusted for the 4-1 stock split of last year. By mid-2015, the position had grown in value to $6.6 billion.
The tweet was from an investor claiming that Apple stock was "extremely overvalued" in August 2013. He told The Wall Street Journal that the bet was easy due to Apple's potential to repurchase shares.
Icahn resigned the position in 2016 citing concerns over China's demand. Apple's stock has risen more than fivefold since then. This means that if an investor didn't sell, he could have a stake of up to $30 Billion today.
It is worth mentioning that Icahn made several billions of dollars on his Apple and Netflix bets. His combined stakes in both companies would have been worth more than $50 Billion today if Icahn hadn't cashed out. This includes more than $40 billion in unrealized gains.
Insider reached out to Icahn for comment but he didn't respond immediately.
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