FB ROUNDUP: Druckenmiller dumps Meta stock, Goldman Sachs opens family office, Australian multi-family office's game bonanza
Stanley Druckenmiller dumps stake in Facebook parent Meta
The family office of billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller ditched a $35.9 million stake in Facebook parent Meta and revealed new investments worth $67 million in social media company Snap Inc. and nearly $100 million in oil corporation Chevron.
The share sale by the New York-based Duquesne Family Office suggests Meta’s shift in focus to the metaverse may not have represented a compelling case for Druckenmiller.
Druckenmiller, who has a net worth of $10.4 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, dumped his holdings in Meta before the company's shock 26% plunge in share price earlier this month. Meta lost more than $230 billion in value on February 3, representing the largest one-day loss in US corporate history. Further losses in Meta stock are expected later this year due to an update in Apple's privacy permissions.
The former hedge fund manager has been running his own family office since closing his Duquesne Capital fund in 2010.
Goldman Sachs creates family office for senior employees
Multinational investment bank and financial services company Goldman Sachs is building an internal family office division to serve the financial needs of its top executives.
Named Goldman Sachs Partner Family Office, the service will provide wealth management services to the company’s current and former partners and managing directors. The bank has chosen current engineering division chief operating officer Lisa Opoku to manage the business.
Opoku has been with Goldman for more than 20 years and has acted as chief operating officer of securities and fixed income, currency and commodities in Hong Kong, London and New York.
The new family office has been established at a time when Goldman Sachs is offering attractive inccentives in an effort to retain valued employees amid increasing competition for talent.
Multi-family office group makes a shrewd investment in Epic Games
An Australian multi-family office's bet on US-based software developer Epic Games appears to be reaping dividends.
Best known for its Fortnite franchise, Epic Games saw additional minority stake funding come in via Belz Family & Associates.
It appears to be a shrewd move for the Sydney-based multi-familly office. The $1.25 billion Epic Games raised in 2021 gave it an estimated valuation of $28.7 billion. Nearly a year on, this valuation has soared to $42 billion – a rise of 68%.
Belz Family & Associates made the bonanza investment via Smash Ventures, a Los Angeles-based venture capital fund that focuses on late-stage investments. Founders Eric Garland and Evan Richter established Smash Ventures in 2018 to seek out consumer technology start-ups.
“The true distributors of media in the future are going to be these technology companies,” said Richter about Epic Games and its ilk.
The arrival of the metaverse, Microsoft’s recent huge purchase of Activision Blizzard and Sony’s acquisition of game developer Bungee further illustrates the point that gaming companies are bigger business than ever.
“[It’s] the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today,” said Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella of the gaming industry.
