Billionaire Australian investor-at-large James Packer has lost all faith in Paramount Global – abruptly dumping his entire $US92.8m ($140m) stake in the American media and entertainment giant, owner of local free-to-air broadcaster Ten Network.
It’s the second time the businessman, whose family once owned the Nine Network, has effectively bought in and out of Ten, this time via the number three network’s in-play $US8.6bn US-listed parent.
Reports filed this week with the US Securities and Exchange Commission by Packer’s private operating company, Consolidated Press International, reveal that the size of his portfolio of US stocks has been culled from 13 to 10 in the three months to the end of March.
The value of Packer’s total portfolio has increased from $US796.4m at the end of December to $US860m by the end of the first quarter. This followed a near doubling of the value of his holdings in the final quarter of 2023.
The move follows Packer’s hire at the end of last year of Sydney money manager Lawrence Myers to run CPH, as well as the exit of longstanding execs Guy Jalland and Mike Johnston. Myers joined with a mandate to simplify Packer’s investments.
The billionaire, who at last count by this masthead was estimated to be worth $4.2bn, was contacted for comment on his most recent sharemarket moves.
Since the start of this year Paramount Global, which is controlled by Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, has been in takeover talks with various parties including Skydance Media (backed by KKR and Redbird Capital) and then Sony in conjunction with Apollo Global Management.
The stock peaked at the start of December amid takeover speculation, but has come off in the months since as talks and non-binding offers failed to materialise into any actual deal.
Packer, it seems, has now also moved on.
Also jettisoned from Packer’s portfolio was his entire holding of stock in computer software giant Adobe worth $US215.8m, plus relatively small circa $US2.5m and $US2m holdings respectively in each of gold miner Newmont and online freelancer marketplace Fiverr International.
Tech-tonic play
The jewel, at least for now, in billionaire businessman James Packer’s US share portfolio is chip company Nvidia, with Packer’s shares in the $US2.3 trillion tech giant having risen more than 80 per cent in value in the first quarter to $US401m ($603m).
The tech company, which is one of the most valuable (and talked about) corporations in the world, now accounts for just under half of the 56-year-old’s total holding in US shares and about 15 per cent of the Aussie businessman’s overall wealth.
Records show that Packer’s holding of just under 450,000 Nvidia shares is his biggest single stock bet overall.
He has made little change to the investment in the quarter, but the Nvidia share price has almost doubled in that time, taking the value of Packer’s stake with it. The rise means he’s up $US180m in just three months.
Handy still, will be Jim Chalmer’s$300 energy rebate to the billionaire by way of his $70m-odd One Barangaroo sky-high apartment at Crown Sydney.
Who doesn’t appreciate a helping hand?
Welcome aboard
Still on chips, James Packer has discovered another flavour he’s fond of too, forking out $US162m ($244m) in the first three months of the year to add a mighty chunk of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to his portfolio.
Packer was on-board before US President Joe Biden last month awarded TSMC $US6.6bn in grants and as much as $US5bn in loans to help the world’s top chipmaker build factories in Arizona, expanding US efforts to boost domestic production of critical technology.
TSMC shares are already up 40 per cent this year, with the company one of the top 10 most valuable globally.
Packer also retains a large, albeit reduced by one sixth in the quarter, stake in Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms that at March 30 was worth $US253.4m. That’s about a similar amount to the value of his holding at the end of last year, revealing that the billionaire investor elected to take some profit off the table.
He’s done the same to reduce his holding in music streamer Spotify, but with the value of Packer’s stake remaining pretty steady.
Packer also retains investments in Monday.com, Jack Dorsey’s payments company Block Inc (formerly Square), construction software group Procore Technologies, Duolingo, software company Datadog and fintech Dlocal.
Kick and chase
Is Andrew Demetriou really the best the Northern Territory government and Aussie rules could manage when it came to beefing up the task force championing the Top End’s push to be the 20th team licensed to play in the AFL?
Demetriou, who ran the AFL from 2003 for 11 years, was recently named a new recruit to the taskforce, which was created in 2021 and is co-chaired by AFLNT chairman Sean Bowden and NT Sports Minister Kate Worden.
Since exiting the AFL in 2014 Demetriou’s track record has been, well, patchy.
As an “independent” director of what was the James Packer-controlled Crown Resorts, Demetriou was unforgettable as a witness at the NSW Casino Inquiry.
He resigned as an independent Crown director in early 2021 following Patricia Bergin’s scathing report which said the NSW gambling regulator could not have confidence in him after a “bizarre … unedifying performance” before her, in which he was caught reading notes as he was questioned and then denied having done so. There was also that email he sent Packer in 2019, telling the billionaire: “I remain committed to serving the best interests of Crown and, most importantly, you.”
Also drawing headlines was Demetriou’s links with failed vocational education company Acquire Learning, where he was chair of the advisory board, but never a director of the actual company
Liquidators of Acquire sued Demetriou over payments the company made to him, with the matter eventually settled. We make no suggestion of any wrongdoing on Demetriou’s part.
But far from a career covered in glory.
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