Billionaire Soros 'likes' Facebook to the tune of $212m; Alibaba out of favour

Billionaire George Soros has slurped up $212m (£135m) of Facebook shares, while simultaneously shedding $365m (£233m) of stock in Chinese giant Alibaba.

Last quarter, Soros had just $10.2m (£6.5m) in Facebook shares and $370m (£236m) invested in the Chinese tat bazaar.

The shift in stock preferences was revealed in a regulatory filing for Soros Fund Management last week.

Facebook recorded a bumper quarter last month, with second-quarter sales jumping 39 per cent to $4bn (£2.6bn) from $2.91bn (£1.9bn) in its previous quarter.

In contrast, the offloading of Alibaba shares follows the company's recent slowest quarterly revenue growth in three years.

For the three months to June, the company recorded a 28 per cent increase in revenue to $3.2bn (£2bn).

However, Alibaba's overall growth average had previously been 45 per cent.

The Chinese firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange last September for $25bn.

Other tech companies the investment giant holds a major stake with include AT&T ($1.6m), Baidu ($8.5m), Ebay ($192m), Motorola ($54m) and Yahoo ($51.8m). ®