Himalaya Capital

And with that, we now get to the fifth and final story from this quarter's 13Fs, and we have Li Lu buying a big lot of Pinduoduo.

Himalaya more than doubled their Pinduoduo stake this quarter, adding 133%, and it's now sitting at over a fifth of his entire portfolio.

So for anyone that doesn't know the company, Pinduoduo is a Chinese e-commerce group known for their group buying model, but most outside of China just know them as the company behind Temu.

Now, I must admit, I've left this one until the very end because this one is quite firmly outside my own circle of competence, you know, at least for the time being.

He then went straight into the investment banking world, working for two years while continuing to invest his own money.

In 1998, he decided it was time to try running his own firm, so he founded Himalaya Capital right at the beginning of the Asian financial crisis.

The meltdown started in Thailand.

Huge foreign debts forced the country to unpeg its currency from the US dollar, causing it to collapse and the economy along with it.

Have a broad interest that allows you to scan many types of businesses and then a willingness to become an expert in the few areas you ultimately decide to invest in.

Going back to the Asian financial crisis, Lu found some companies he considered to be high quality and was able to buy them far below intrinsic value because the crisis had pulled everything down.

In his first year running Himalaya Capital, his fund lost 19%, but he held onto his bets.

Within two years, the suffering Asian economies received bailouts from the IMF and China, and as the economies recovered, Lu's investments surged in price.