I recently went through the holdings documents from the US SEC and found an account belonging to a Chinese boss, H&H International Investment, with a scale of 14.7 billion USD (approximately 104.4 billion RMB). The actual controller is Duan Yongping. What's interesting about this? A person who retired at forty manages hundreds of billions in assets with a 'lazy investment method', holding no more than 10 companies for years. The top four—Apple, Berkshire, Google, Alibaba—account for nearly 90% of the portfolio. This is not stock trading; it's clearly picking family members to live on!
01 The Boss's Strategy: Extreme Focus, Long-term 'Holding'
Duan Yongping's investment style can be summarized in three words: Understand, Concentrate, Hold. This guy's H&H account currently holds only 11 companies, and since the first disclosure in 2018, he has only invested in 25 targets. As you can see in his current holdings, Apple dominates (over 60%), Berkshire is second (about 18%), and the remaining are small stakes in Pinduoduo and Occidental Petroleum, which together don't match even one leg of Apple.
This 'extreme' concentration reflects Duan Yongping's philosophy: 'There are only three or four good businesses that can be understood.' He has publicly stated that qualitative analysis is more important than quantitative analysis; the key is the business model and corporate culture. For instance, when he invested in Apple, he valued its ecosystem and user stickiness; when investing in Pinduoduo, part of the reason was his recognition of founder Huang Zheng. As for those companies that 'seem to make money but are hard to understand'—such as real estate stocks—he sold them off years ago, reasoning that he 'couldn't figure out what would happen in ten years.'
This approach seems simple but is actually against human nature. Ordinary people always want to 'diversify risk', leading to a portfolio full of junk; Duan Yongping prefers to miss all the fish rather than to stubbornly fight for shrimp that he understands. In his words: 'Pretending to invest is as dangerous as pretending to swim.'
02 Recent Operations: A little participation in AI, but definitely not as a main player
In the third quarter of this year, Duan Yongping slightly reduced his holdings in Apple, Alibaba, and Google but significantly increased his stake in Berkshire by 53%, and also took a new position in lithography giant ASML. This operation is quite interesting: on one hand, reducing stakes in tech giants while on the other hand, positioning himself in the core of AI hardware.
In fact, this is very 'Duan-like'—don't invest if you don't understand, but never completely miss out. Recently, when he talked about AI, he candidly said: 'I don't fully understand it, but what Jensen Huang talked about over a decade ago is the same as today, which shows he truly understands. I think I'll invest a little to see, at least to participate a bit.' So this year he made small investments in Nvidia, TSMC, and Microsoft, but together they account for less than 2% of the portfolio, purely 'tuition fee participation.'
This restraint is something beginners should truly learn from. How many people see AI booming and go ALL IN, only to lose sleep when volatility hits? Duan Yongping's approach is: keep a main position firmly in cash flow machines like Apple, while cautiously exploring new trends on the edges. Neither lagging behind nor rushing in.
03 Insights for Ordinary People: Don't fidget, learn to 'win by lying down'
One of Duan Yongping's most ruthless points is that he dares to increase his holdings during a crash. After buying Apple in 2011 and experiencing three declines of more than 30%, he actually increased his investment each time. His reasoning is: 'Thinking about ten years later, how could one feel bad when stocks drop significantly? Buybacks become cheaper.' This 'happy syndrome during crashes' essentially reflects extreme confidence in the business model.
In contrast, ordinary people cut losses when the market drops a little and chase high when it rises a bit. Duan Yongping's original words are painful but true: 'Many people make mistakes due to a partial understanding and rush to act out of fear of missing opportunities.' His solution is:
Use long-term returns instead of timing: 'If you think the company will be better in ten years, a 10% price difference is really not a big deal';
Refuse leverage: trading stocks with leverage is like borrowing high-interest loans to gamble in Macau—it will inevitably lead to bankruptcy.
Cash is not shameful: when there are no suitable targets, holding cash is better than buying randomly.
Take a classic case: In 2001, NetEase was on the verge of delisting, with a stock price of $0.8. After researching, Duan Yongping decisively bet over a million dollars, later earning over 100 times. He summarized that the key is not 'bottom fishing', but understanding that NetEase's gaming business could explode. Ordinary people only see 'huge profits', but they fail to see his prior dedication to understanding the product.
04 My Perspective: Investing is the realization of cognition, not gambling
Anyone who reads my articles knows that I often emphasize that underlying logic is more important than short-term news. Duan Yongping's portfolio is essentially a 'business model certification list': Apple (ecological monopoly), Berkshire (cash flow machine), Google (technical barrier)... none of them rely on windfall.
In the cryptocurrency world, I see far too many people chasing 'hundredfold coins', only to end up with them going to zero without a sound. Old Duan's strategy is more applicable: if you can't understand the project's economic model, team background, or the problems it solves, then just don't touch it. For example, I invested in Bitcoin because I believe in its storage value as 'digital gold'; I invested in Ethereum because I recognize its irreplaceability within the ecosystem. As for those flashy altcoins? My attitude towards them is the same as Old Duan's towards AI: small stakes for experimentation, absolutely not a staple.
Lastly, here’s a piece of wisdom from Duan Yongping: 'Buying stocks is buying companies. If you can't view a company as a private company for investment, most of the time you will lose money.' Isn't this the same for the cryptocurrency world? If you hold a coin but can't articulate its value five years later, how is that different from gambling?
