Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart doubles US stocks bet to $2.5 billion

Billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart poured hundreds of millions of dollars into broad market-tracking funds during the first three months of the year, boosting holdings of US equities as Donald Trump returned to the White House.

Rinehart’s closely held Hancock Prospecting Ltd. held a portfolio of US-traded stocks and exchange-traded funds worth about $2.5 billion as of March 31, according to a May 15 regulatory filing. The iron ore tycoon, a Trump supporter, nearly doubled her holdings since the end of last year. The ramp up came just before the US announced higher tariffs on many countries sending global stocks into a tailspin, though they have since clawed back losses.

Most of Rinehart’s new investment went into simple index trackers for the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average. She also bought stakes in Etsy Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. She closed out stakes in four petroleum companies, including Chevron Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp., which were worth a combined $109 million at the end of last year.


Rinehart is worth $26.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The 71-year-old has became an outspoken supporter of Trump and Australia’s center-right party, which suffered a loss when the nation went to the polls two weeks ago.

One holding that remained unchanged — her 150,000 shares of Trump Media & Technology Group Corp., which operates social media platform Truth Social.