George Soros Among the High-Profile Investor Names Behind DraftKings

DraftKings Inc, the recently listed on the NASDAQ sports betting and online gambling company, has some high-profile names among its shareholders. Besides The Walt Disney Company that ended up as a passive investor into the fantasy sports and sports book provider through the acquisition of Fox Sports, it turns out Quantum Partners, the investment vehicle of Soros Fund Management, has a significant share, too.

Soros Management Fund

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Quantum Partners holds 2.7 million Class A shares, to the amount of $66 million, of DraftKings Inc, the new entity formed after the three-way merger with SBTech and Diamond Eagle Corp. The sports book operator merged with the sports betting technology provider to create the only vertically-integrated sports betting and online gaming company in the USA.

DraftKings was founded in 2012 as a daily fantasy sports platform, funded by start-up investments from Major League Baseball  and the owners of two National Football League’s teams, Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft, owners of Dallas Cowboys and New England Patriots, respectively.

Soros Management Fund is in charge of $2.5 billion in investments, diversified into a conservative portfolio, especially since 2017, when Dawn Fitzpatrick became its chief investment officer. The share the fund has in the sports book operator, compared to its total portfolio value, is relatively small, but it shows Boston-headquartered DraftKings is quickly turning into a focal point for high-profile investors. DraftKings’ share price has been soaring, 40% since the company started trading on the NASDAQ, after the completion of the three-way merger through the SPAC, Diamond Eagle Corp.

Other Shareholders with Significant Share

$88 million in shares in the company is owned by the Mousse Partners, the investment arm for the fortune of the Wertheimers, owners of Chanel, while a former money manager with Jeffrey Vinik’s hedge fund, Michael Gordon, has a stake of almost $20 million.

Dallas Cowboys’ owner, Robert Kraft, with his sons, owns around 3.5 million shares in DraftKings, while the investment vehicle set up with the New York Yankees, Legends Hospitality, owns another almost 200,000 shares.

There are several owners of NBA teams among the shareholders with significant holdings, with New York Knicks’ owners, the Dolan family, through its Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp, holding around 1.5 million shares, and Boston Celtics’ co-owner and co-chairman of Bain Capital, Stephen Pagliuca having more than 500,000 shares, in partnership with the head of Bollard Group, Anastasios Parafestas.