Dan Loeb’s Third Point Discloses $115M ViacomCBS Stake

The hedge fund also revealed that it cut its holdings in Fox Corp. by more than 37 percent, and acquired a $130 million stake in Amazon.

Third Point LLC, the influential hedge fund run by Daniel Loeb, is shaking up its media holdings.

According to a regulatory disclosure outlining the company’s holdings as of Dec. 31, 2019, Third Point accumulated a $115 million stake at ViacomCBS. The fund said that it bought 2.75 million shares in the company, run by CEO Bob Bakish. The value of the shares has fallen somewhat in the past couple of months, and the stake is now worth just over $96 million as of writing. ViacomCBS will report its quarterly earnings next Thursday.

Third Point also revealed that it had taken a $130 million stake in Amazon.

In addition, Third Point cut its holdings in Fox Corp. by more than 37 percent. The company said that as of Dec. 31 it held 5 million Class A shares in the Murdoch-controlled company. That is down from 8 million shares as of Sept. 30 2019. The Fox holdings have a current value of $187 million, as of writing.

Third point has retained its 1.5 million share stake in Sony Corp. In its latest quarterly letter to investors, Loeb cited Sony as one of the firm’s “winners for the year,” but reiterated his call for the Japanese technology giant to split its entertainment and gaming holdings and semiconductor business into separate companies.

"[W]e continue to believe that Sony’s media and semiconductors franchises can stand alone and create more value independently than together," Loeb wrote.