Billionaire investors have proven their talents over the years by producing big returns for clients and for themselves. They don’t all make the same moves at the same times, though — and sometimes they pivot in completely opposite directions. For example, in the past year, Stanley Druckenmiller of the Duquesne Family Office sold all of his Nvidia shares — but in the first quarter of 2025, Chase Coleman of Tiger Global Management added to his Nvidia position.
Both decisions could be winning ones: Druckenmiller locked in his gains on a position he had held for a while; Coleman is positioning himself to potentially benefit from Nvidia’s next wave of growth. So, investors don’t have to take the exact same path to win in investing.
But, in some cases, billionaires do have similar ideas, and this brings me to the subject of Michael Platt and Warren Buffett. Recently, Platt — the managing director of giant European hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management — made an investment move that the “Oracle of Omaha,” as Buffett is often called, would applaud. This particular investment is one Buffett himself has held in the recent past — and one he recommends to every investor.
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The U.K.’s wealthiest hedge fund manager
First, though, a quick note on Platt, who oversees $86 billion in assets at BlueCrest and is the U.K.’s wealthiest hedge fund manager. He co-founded the firm back in 2000, and it has operated as a private partnership — taking no money from outside investors — for almost a decade. The fund has been very successful, last year recording a 38% gain after delivering a 20% return in the previous year, according to press reports.
Platt has been known to anticipate market shifts and effectively take action. For example, in 2007, concerned about a potential market crash, he sold BlueCrest’s bank shares — a move that was key to the firm successfully navigating the financial crisis. He also invests across asset classes, and this diversification has helped him minimize risk and maximize profit over the long term.
Now, let’s consider one of Platt’s recent moves. In the first quarter, the billionaire bought shares of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY 0.17%), an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the S&P 500 index. This is a new holding for Platt, and he bought 117,163 shares, for a position that represented 2.8% of his portfolio, based on the 13F form he most recently submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Managers of more than $100 million in U.S. securities must file those forms on a quarterly basis.
Buffett’s thoughts on S&P 500 investing
So, what does Buffett have to say about such an investment? The billionaire has held this ETF in his portfolio in the past, and has even said that he has requested that, upon his death, the trustee of his estate should put most of the cash he leaves to his wife into just such an ETF. Buffett likes S&P 500 ETFs because they allow investors to easily bet on the best U.S. companies as a class — and he’s a big believer in their ability to deliver great returns over time.
“American business has done wonderfully over time and will continue to do so (though, most assuredly, in unpredictable fits and starts),” Buffett once wrote in a letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders.
The SPDR S&P 500 fund is the perfect way to benefit from the growth of American companies because it mimics the index’s composition — and the index includes the top American companies of the moment. I say “of the moment” because the index adjusts its components quarterly, adding and removing members as companies that are driving the economy rise into the ranks of the nation’s largest and others drift out. The fund then makes the same moves in its holdings in order to properly track the benchmark index’s performance.
An easy investment
So, with one simple purchase, Platt — and other investors in this ETF — gain exposure to America’s finest businesses, and investors don’t have to make any adjustments over time. Thanks to the index’s regular moves, investors know they’ll always have stakes in the most compelling companies of the moment.
Platt’s purchase of the SPDR S&P 500 fund in the first quarter suggests he expects more gains for the broad market, and considering his solid track record of predicting market trends, there’s reason to be confident about that. We could view this as a vote of confidence in American companies.
Even better, though, no matter what direction the index takes in the short term, over the long term, it has always advanced. Despite the fact that it has down periods on a regular basis, it has delivered an average annual return of 10%. That means this Buffett-approved investment isn’t only a potential winner for Platt — but it could be a winner for you too, if you buy and hold on for the long haul.
