News about Harvard

Harvard University's endowment, valued at nearly $68 billion, invests in about 15,000 funds and also holds individual stocks, with 75% of its public equity portfolio in five AI stocks. SpaceX (SPCX) is the largest holding at over 52% of that portfolio, though its $2.2 billion stake is only about 3% of the total endowment. Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) accounts for more than 8%, Cerebras Systems (CBRS) nearly 6%, Amazon (AMZN) over 5.5%, and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) nearly 4%. The article highlights each company's growth potential, such as AWS's backlog of nearly $500 billion and Cerebras' wafer-sized chips, which it says are 30 times faster than GPUs for inference.

Harvard's endowment reached a record $68 billion at the close of its fiscal year on June 30, 2026, after a 27.1% return versus about 18.9% for large endowments, growing $11 billion from a year earlier. Harvard Management Company disclosed a SpaceX stake worth $2.2 billion in August 2026, more than half of its $4.3 billion U.S. equities portfolio at the time. Harvard also opened a position in Cerebras Systems worth about $239 million and sharply increased its stakes in NVIDIA and Taiwan Semiconductor. SpaceX closed at $148.62 on October 15, 2026, down 2.33% and 7.66% below its first daily close on June 12, 2026. Each disclosure shows holdings on a single date, so the article notes it is not possible to know what Harvard owns now.

Harvard University's endowment grew 27.1% in fiscal 2026, its strongest return in five years, and beat the S&P 500's 22.3% total return by 4.8 percentage points to nearly $68 billion, despite Trump administration actions to penalize the school and withhold funding. Its largest single holding was a $2.2 billion stake in SpaceX, followed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company at just under $350 million. Federally sponsored research revenue fell 19.5% to $509 million, and the federal excise tax on its net investment income is rising from 1.4% to 8% this fiscal year, which Harvard estimates will cost about $300 million a year. President Alan Garber said Harvard can still succeed despite the headwinds.

Harvard's endowment grew by more than $11 billion to nearly $68 billion in fiscal year 2026 after a roughly 27% investment return, its highest since 2021. The university reported a $100 million operating surplus, a 1.5% margin on $6.7 billion in revenue, after a $113 million operating loss in fiscal 2025, though unrestricted funds still ran a $78.7 million deficit. The endowment tax will rise from 1.4% to 8%, and Harvard's tax liability jumped from $317 million to $1.9 billion, mostly reflecting estimated future taxes on unrealized gains. Salaries fell by $104 million through a hiring freeze, attrition and restructurings, while legal fees rose 58% in fiscal 2025 amid court battles with the Trump administration.