Paul Tudor Jones' New IBM Bet Is Suddenly Under Pressure After $30 Billion AI Shock
Paul Tudor Jones is no stranger to spotting macro turning points. But his firm, Tudor Investment‘s newest bet on International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is suddenly facing a test few investors saw coming.
Paul Tudor Jones’ IBM Bet Meets AI Reality
The billionaire hedge fund manager initiated a new position in IBM in the fourth quarter of 2025, buying roughly 100,000 shares valued at about $29.6 million, with an average purchase price of $289.19, according to HedgeFollow. At the time, the move signaled confidence in IBM's positioning as an enterprise AI beneficiary — not a casualty.
That narrative shifted abruptly this week.
IBM stock plunged about 13% in a single session after Anthropic unveiled Claude Code, an AI tool capable of analyzing and modernizing legacy codebases — including COBOL, the decades-old programming language that still underpins many of IBM's enterprise systems.
The selloff erased roughly $30 billion from IBM's market capitalization, marking its worst single-day wipeout in decades.
For Tudor Jones, the timing is striking. With IBM stock now trading roughly 20% below his reported entry price, his fresh bet is already under pressure — underscoring how quickly AI is reshaping the investment landscape.
IBM's Core Business Now In The Crosshairs
The market reaction reflects a deeper concern: Claude Code targets one of IBM's most valuable moats — legacy system modernization and enterprise consulting.
For decades, IBM's dominance rested on helping large organizations maintain and upgrade mission-critical infrastructure. Claude Code threatens to compress timelines that once took months into hours, raising questions about the long-term durability of that business model.
That shift is forcing investors to reconsider whether IBM is truly an AI winner — or one of its earliest large-cap casualties.
For now, the message from markets is clear. Even legendary investors like Jones aren't immune to the speed — or scale — of AI disruption.
Photo: Shutterstock
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
Will the Fed "continue raising interest rates"? Will the "tightening cycle" of the late 1980s be repeated?
The Citi report points out that the current macro environment is highly similar to the tightening cycle of 1988-1989, when the economy remained resilient and inflation pressures gradually accumulated, followed by a slowdown in economic activity before policies shifted to easing. During that tightening cycle, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates 16 times in a row.
Rare alliance of arch-rivals! Musk and Altman support Dario Amodei's call to "slow down AI globally"
Anthropic's Amodei issued a call to "slow down AI globally," and to everyone's surprise, rivals Musk and Altman both publicly endorsed the initiative. The three industry giants unanimously agreed to grant third-party access to "employee-level" evaluation rights and to implement coordinated deceleration measures. Altman went further, announcing that OpenAI will not IPO this year. The resignation of a researcher and a collective breakout of uncontrollable AI systems have ignited long-standing industry fears.
Bitcoin vs Ethereum ETFs: Which asset is winning September’s flow battle?
Solana targets $147 as it breaks key resistance and eyes further gains
Crypto prices
More
