By Kylar Loussikian & Samantha Hutchinson
When Sean Spicer took the gig that took him to Donald Trump’s White House, he retained enough self–awareness to ask: “If I do this, will I ever be able to work again?”
The answer, somehow, is yes.
The former POTUS press secretary is due in Sydney this week to speak to investors and we hear at least two big-name fund managers will be well and truly represented.
Illustration: John ShakespeareCredit:
First off the rank, Kerr Neilson’s Platinum Asset Management.
We can’t help but wonder what the billionaire investor’s former wife Judith will make of that, after sinking $100 million into a philanthropic fund last month meant to champion quality journalism, the diametric opposite of Spicer’s life mission in recent years.
(We recall with some fondness when Spicer, a long-time Republican operative, attempted to claim Trump’s campaign manager Paul Manafort “played a very limited role for a very limited amount of time”. Manafort was this year convicted of eight fraud charges.)
Then there are the guests from Magellan Financial, although not chairman Hamish Douglass.
He would no doubt prefer to spend his time down at the MLC Centre food court ordering a $17 ponzu organic tofu poke bowl.
And who would blame him?
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Ella Buckland's allegations against Jeremy Buckingham, explosively raised in Parliament by Jenny Leong, look likely to have him expelled from the Greens.
The NSW Greens descended into high farce as they fought over whether Upper House MP Jeremy Buckingham should be expelled from the party over an incident with staffer Ella Buckland, even after an internal (but highly legalese) investigation recommended no action.
Detractors say the report doesn’t actually clear him; Buckingham denies the allegation entirely.
Enter Andrew Blake, state campaign coordinator and Watergate enthusiast.
It now appears likely Buckingham will be turfed from the party, and that means a quick reshuffle for the Greens' Upper House ticket for the coming state election.
A recount of an earlier ballot would give his political ally Dawn Walker a winnable position.
But those preselection ballots can’t be used because of two break-ins at the Greens’ head office, Blake told party members over the weekend.
However, in response to questions from CBD on Monday, Blake said he was actually referring to a homeless man who had entered the building in which the office was located … to sleep.
The second incident: children playing with fire extinguishers in the foyer.
That’s some weird definition of a break-in, even by the Greens’ standards.
“If people feel that those incidents warranted calling the police, then we need to revisit our threshold for living in a working city,” Blake later wrote on Facebook.
(Or as another Greens member put it: “Greens don’t talk to pigs.”)
Do we assume that means those ballots can now be recounted?
Airtasker wobbles
Could local start-up Airtasker, led by newly-minted rich lister Tim Fung, be in a tight spot?
We hear the Seven West Media-backed firm is burning through cash like it's going out of fashion, including a tax office claim for as much as $5 million after making erroneous R&D incentive claims.
Meanwhile, Fung says they are "sufficiently capitalised to meet all of our financial obligations".
A negative November
Rich lister Will Vicars is having a difficult time at his fund manager Caledonia Investments, which faced another month of heavy losses in November.Credit: Louie Douvis
Regrettably, we return to a well-worn subject for this column — another month of losses at the Will Vickers-led Caledonia Investments.
It was, until recently, one of the best-performing fund managers in the country with a base of supporters as glittering as they come.
Global markets barely moved in November.
One indicator, the MSCI World Index, rose just 0.01 per cent.
So how it is that Caledonia’s multi-billion dollar global fund tumbled 12.2 per cent?
That’s even worse than in October, when it was down 9.8 per cent, and September, when it fell a very gentle (by comparison) 4.8 per cent.
The blame is firmly on American real estate outfit Zillow, online gaming firm Stars Group and food app GrubHub, their three largest investments, all of which continue to plummet.
There must be some seriously nervous investors out there.
One likely more than relieved is James Packer, who transferred the family’s share in Zillow to sister Gretel as part of a $1.25 billion settlement.
The tumble hasn’t affected the personal wealth Caledonia's biggest names, including investment boss Mike Messara, who in October debuted on the Young Rich List with $81 million to his name.
It would be remiss of us, of course, not to mention that same fund had by September racked up a seriously impressive 22.1 per cent return every year since it was founded.