John Paulson‘s hedge fund trimmed its equity book to $2.58 billion in the second quarter, down from $3.11 billion in Q1, according to the firm’s 13F filed on Friday. The number of disclosed positions shrank to eight from nine as the billionaire investor exited two names entirely. 

• GOOGL stock is moving. See the real-time price action here.

The biggest surprise: Paulson sold his entire 783,561-share stake in gold miner Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM), a full reversal for a fund whose identity has been built on precious-metals conviction since the 2008 financial crisis. 

He also zeroed out his small Amicus Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FOLD) position, dumping all 32,400 shares.

Paulson made a rare move outside his usual healthcare-and-gold playbook, opening a tiny 5,000-share stake in Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) worth $1.77 million, just 0.07% of the portfolio. 

Elsewhere, Paulson doubled down on his gold thesis, boosting International Tower Hill Mines (AMEX:THM) by nearly 4.9 million shares to 104.5 million total — a roughly 5% increase that pushed the position to 8.07% of the portfolio. 

Holdings in NovaGold Resources (AMEX:NG) and Perpetua Resources (NASDAQ:PPTA) were left unchanged at 6.31% and 26.07%, respectively.

On the trimming side, Paulson cut Acadian Asset Management (NYSE:AAMI) by 1.9 million shares — roughly a 25% reduction — dropping it to 16.23% of the book, while paring Madrigal Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:MDGL) by about 52,000 shares. 

Even after the trim, Madrigal remains the fund’s top holding at 27.94%, with Bausch Health Co.  (NYSE:BHC) steady at 14.02%.

The bottom line: Madrigal and Perpetua alone still account for more than 54% of Paulson’s disclosed book, a portfolio that remains heavily concentrated in biotech turnaround bets and gold-mining exposure.

Photo: Shutterstock