5 ms·

Harvard professor rides 170x return in Moderna stock to become a billionaire

45 points by spking 7y ago

ignoramous 7y ago
Less than two years later (of the IPO), and the 72-year-old (Timothy Springer) has ridden a 17,000% return in his Moderna shares — which he paid about $5 million for in the company’s early stages — into the billionaire club. The Cambridge, Mass., biotech has jumped 162% this year, as of Wednesday’s close, surging on hopes for its mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine, one of the first (along with five other vaccines) to begin human trials. https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MRNA?countrycode=US https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MRNA?countrycode...
- chadmeister 7y ago
  Wow that was an incredible bet.
  - pierrebai 7y ago
    Biotech is hot in general and as the article says, the ones around Harvard were doing well. So investing 5m in one is not crazy. I'm sure he merely expected single or double digits return. He got lucky to be an investor in one that hit it big. Stories are also about spectacular winners or losers. There are no story on all the investor that got normal returns last year.
  - trhway 6y ago
    try beating this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Facebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Facebook >In August 2004, Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in Facebook for a 10.2% stake in the company
101404 7y ago
Step 1: be a millionaire.
- draw_down 7y ago
  Totally.
- pmorici 7y ago
  Believe the article indicates step #1 was to found a successful business and sell it. "Springer made his first killing during the bubble of 1999, Bloomberg reported, when he pocketed $100 million by selling his first venture to Millennium Pharmaceuticals."
  - gurumeditations 7y ago
    Step 0: be born in the position to ever be able to have the opportunity to do something like that in the first place
  - notacoward 7y ago
    If you get a thousand people to each roll a pair of dice two times, you're almost certain to get at least one person who rolls snake-eyes twice. Then he'll go around telling everyone how luck was only a minor factor and if you just copy all of his irrelevant biases/habits you drastically improve your chances of getting the same outcome. No, you don't. It's still a crap-shoot. I don't discount the importance of skill and hard work in this story. I'm sure there was a lot of that, and I'm sure it was a necessary ingredient ... but it wasn't a sufficient ingredient. This is still a story about making two bets and winning twice. A lot of people who were also skilled and hard-working made bets that were just as good based on information available at the time. Most didn't even win the first bet, so were never in a position to make the second. If these two bets hadn't worked out, we'd be reading a different story about someone else's two bets that did. The names change; the story doesn't. What lesson, exactly, are we supposed to take away from that?
    - lxmorj 7y ago
      Be in position to take these bets in the first place by meeting the necessary but insufficient requirements within your control: gain skills, work hard using them.
econcon 7y ago
Harvard professor is surely very connected to both administration, regulation, technology and everything else. It's literally impossible for an outsider to achieve this feat even if he has the initial money at his disposal.
- MiroF 7y ago
  You don't get a 17,000% return even with the best insider trading in the world. You get it with luck.
  - phkahler 7y ago
    And to become a billionaire you'd have to bet over $5M to start with. If I had 5M I'd go mostly dividend stocks and retire.
    - Thrymr 7y ago
      Yes, but if you had $100M you could retire and take some risky bets.
      - bjonnh 7y ago
        Some jobs are not just about getting enough money to retire, they can also be about making the world a better place (or sometimes just believing that's the case), just living a passion, just having a social activity and many other reasons.
      - dkarl 7y ago
        His stock was worth $320 million after the IPO, and he let it all ride. On a single stock in a two-year-old company. Nobody could afford to do that unless losing most of $320 million wouldn't affect their lifestyle. Being wealthy explains most of it, but I suspect being 72 years old was a factor, too.
    - antsar 7y ago
      Sounds like his net worth was over 100M at the time. I guess past a certain point, you’ve got enough dividend stocks and want to gamble on something more exciting.
908087 7y ago
Am I on reddit? "Man makes lucky bet, gets rich" doesn't really seem very "hacker"-ish.
KKKKkkkk1 7y ago
“I have an academic lifestyle. I’m not into ramen noodles, but my friends are academics, so it doesn’t really behoove me to be flashy,” Springer told Bloomberg at the time. “I feel that I’ve had more than enough wealth for myself for some time. I don’t feel I need more.” Compare and contrast with: https://youtu.be/eb3pmifEZ44 https://youtu.be/eb3pmifEZ44 https://youtu.be/mOI8GWoMF4M https://youtu.be/mOI8GWoMF4M
- LegitShady 7y ago
  Is this a credible example of Elon Musk derangement syndrome? Why make it about elon musk? It seems like you're preoccupied with a person who has no idea you exist.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- beamatronic 7y ago
  Watched the first video. The McLaren F1 is a very reasonable investment. If you can get your hands on one. It is priceless. Edit: He WRECKED it??
- slantaclaus 6y ago
  x.com They didn't even bother to reroute to paypal.com

45 points by spking 7y ago

Less than two years later (of the IPO), and the 72-year-old (Timothy Springer) has ridden a 17,000% return in his Moderna shares — which he paid about $5 million for in the company’s early stages — into the billionaire club. The Cambridge, Mass., biotech has jumped 162% this year, as of Wednesday’s close, surging on hopes for its mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine, one of the first (along with five other vaccines) to begin human trials. https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MRNA?countrycode=US https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/MRNA?countrycode...

chadmeister 7y ago
Wow that was an incredible bet.
- pierrebai 7y ago
  Biotech is hot in general and as the article says, the ones around Harvard were doing well. So investing 5m in one is not crazy. I'm sure he merely expected single or double digits return. He got lucky to be an investor in one that hit it big. Stories are also about spectacular winners or losers. There are no story on all the investor that got normal returns last year.
- trhway 6y ago
  try beating this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Facebook https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Thiel#Facebook >In August 2004, Thiel made a $500,000 angel investment in Facebook for a 10.2% stake in the company

101404 7y ago

Step 1: be a millionaire.

draw_down 7y ago
Totally.
pmorici 7y ago
Believe the article indicates step #1 was to found a successful business and sell it. "Springer made his first killing during the bubble of 1999, Bloomberg reported, when he pocketed $100 million by selling his first venture to Millennium Pharmaceuticals."
- gurumeditations 7y ago
  Step 0: be born in the position to ever be able to have the opportunity to do something like that in the first place
- notacoward 7y ago
  If you get a thousand people to each roll a pair of dice two times, you're almost certain to get at least one person who rolls snake-eyes twice. Then he'll go around telling everyone how luck was only a minor factor and if you just copy all of his irrelevant biases/habits you drastically improve your chances of getting the same outcome. No, you don't. It's still a crap-shoot. I don't discount the importance of skill and hard work in this story. I'm sure there was a lot of that, and I'm sure it was a necessary ingredient ... but it wasn't a sufficient ingredient. This is still a story about making two bets and winning twice. A lot of people who were also skilled and hard-working made bets that were just as good based on information available at the time. Most didn't even win the first bet, so were never in a position to make the second. If these two bets hadn't worked out, we'd be reading a different story about someone else's two bets that did. The names change; the story doesn't. What lesson, exactly, are we supposed to take away from that?
  - lxmorj 7y ago
    Be in position to take these bets in the first place by meeting the necessary but insufficient requirements within your control: gain skills, work hard using them.

econcon 7y ago

Harvard professor is surely very connected to both administration, regulation, technology and everything else. It's literally impossible for an outsider to achieve this feat even if he has the initial money at his disposal.

MiroF 7y ago
You don't get a 17,000% return even with the best insider trading in the world. You get it with luck.
- phkahler 7y ago
  And to become a billionaire you'd have to bet over $5M to start with. If I had 5M I'd go mostly dividend stocks and retire.
  - Thrymr 7y ago
    Yes, but if you had $100M you could retire and take some risky bets.
    - bjonnh 7y ago
      Some jobs are not just about getting enough money to retire, they can also be about making the world a better place (or sometimes just believing that's the case), just living a passion, just having a social activity and many other reasons.
    - dkarl 7y ago
      His stock was worth $320 million after the IPO, and he let it all ride. On a single stock in a two-year-old company. Nobody could afford to do that unless losing most of $320 million wouldn't affect their lifestyle. Being wealthy explains most of it, but I suspect being 72 years old was a factor, too.
  - antsar 7y ago
    Sounds like his net worth was over 100M at the time. I guess past a certain point, you’ve got enough dividend stocks and want to gamble on something more exciting.

908087 7y ago

Am I on reddit? "Man makes lucky bet, gets rich" doesn't really seem very "hacker"-ish.

KKKKkkkk1 7y ago

“I have an academic lifestyle. I’m not into ramen noodles, but my friends are academics, so it doesn’t really behoove me to be flashy,” Springer told Bloomberg at the time. “I feel that I’ve had more than enough wealth for myself for some time. I don’t feel I need more.” Compare and contrast with: https://youtu.be/eb3pmifEZ44 https://youtu.be/eb3pmifEZ44 https://youtu.be/mOI8GWoMF4M https://youtu.be/mOI8GWoMF4M

LegitShady 7y ago
Is this a credible example of Elon Musk derangement syndrome? Why make it about elon musk? It seems like you're preoccupied with a person who has no idea you exist.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
beamatronic 7y ago
Watched the first video. The McLaren F1 is a very reasonable investment. If you can get your hands on one. It is priceless. Edit: He WRECKED it??
slantaclaus 6y ago
x.com They didn't even bother to reroute to paypal.com