George Soros Picks a $66 Million Stake in DraftKings

George Soros Picks a $66 Million Stake in DraftKings

Billionaire investor George Soros is throwing his weight behind the sports betting industry with a $66 million stake in DraftKings Inc. He is one of the many big investors who are investing in the company after it went public last month.

Investment via Quantum Partners

George Soros runs Soros Fund Management, whose investment vehicle Quantum Partners, invested in DraftKings. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Quantum now holds 2.7 million Class A shares of DraftKings. The shares are valued at $66 million. A spokesman for Soros Fund Management, which handled the 89-year-old investor and his family’s investments, declined to comment on the stake.

George Soros Picks a $66 Million Stake in DraftKings

The investment is good news for DraftKings which has created an expanded investor base for itself since going public. It began in 2012 as a fantasy sports platform and received initial investments from the Major League Baseball. Other investors included Jerry Jones, the owner of Dallas Cowboys and Robert Kraft, the owner of New England Patriots, both NFL teams. The company carried out a reverse merger with Diamond Eagle Acquisition Corp., a blank-check company.

What does the investment mean?

Soros Fund Management manages about $25 million in investments. Its chief investment officer Dawn Fitzpatrick, who joined it in 2017, has been focusing on a conservative investment approach. During the pandemic, they made a few riskier decisions, which included a stake in the upscale stationary bike and online workout program firm Peloton Interactive Inc. The company’s stock soared after the investment, which made the stake’s value rise to $117 million.

For DraftKings, a public listing has been a boon. The Boston-based company went public on April 23 and its stocks are up by 40% since then, even during the pandemic. The SEC filing shows that Mousse Partners holds shares worth about $88 million in the company. Mousse is the family office for the Wertheimers, holding the Chanel fortune. Another big chunk of shares, worth about $20 million, is held by Michael Gordon who is a former money manager with a Jeffrey Vinik hedge fund.

Robert Kraft holds 3.53 million shares of DraftKings alongside his sons Jonathan and Daniel. About 194,867 shares are held by Legends Hospitality, an investment vehicle for the New York Yankees and Cowboys. Some pro-basketball teams are also listed in the filing. Other prominent investors include the Dolan Family, which owns the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. They hold 1.5 million shares. Bain Capital co-chairman and Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca has 566,600 shares via a partnership with Bollard Group’s Anastasios Parafestas.

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Sherlock Gomes loves to write and express his views on anything related to Gaming, Gambling, & Casino. He has been covering Gaming for more than two years now.