On Thursday (8 Nov), Straits Times published a news report today saying that it “continues to be Singapore’s best read newspaper”.

Quoting the latest annual Singapore Media Index Report released by Nielsen, ST said that 29.8 per cent of Singapore residents aged 15 and above read ST everyday. Nielsen had polled 4,688 people aged 15 and above in its survey.

“It marks a percentage point improvement from last year,” ST added.

Thanks to the revelation from Facebook user Phillip Ang, in fact, Singapore government bought into Nielsen through its investments from GIC. In 2015, GIC bought a 5% stake in U.S. information and television ratings company Nielsen.

It was reported on WSJ at the time that GIC went on to own 18.79 million shares in Nielsen. Based on Nielsen’s last traded share price of US$43.75 then, the deal was valued at US$822 million.

Since GIC acquired shares in Nielsen, the share price has been dropping except for a brief period in 2016. Yesterday (9 Nov), Nielsen’s shares closed at US$26.46.

GIC sold off Nielsen’s shares between May 2017 to May 2018

It’s not actually known if GIC is still holding on to Nielsen’s shares, since unlike other sovereign wealth funds, GIC does not disclose everything.

However, from the various SEC filings , one can deduce that GIC has likely sold off all its shares in Nielsen by now.

In the Proxy Statement 2017 of Nielsen (23 May 2017), GIC was still listed as one of substantial shareholders with 20.6 million shares, suggesting that GIC had in fact, bought more shares since its initial 2015 purchase of 18.79 million shares:

But in the Proxy Statement 2018 of Nielsen (22 May 2018), GIC was no longer listed as one of its substantial shareholders:

And in the annual SEC Schedule 13G filing which a party must do so if it owns more than 5% shares of any public listed company in US, GIC disclosed that it had 16.8 million shares as at 31 Dec 2017.

That means to say, it sold 3.8 million shares between May to Dec last year and the rest (16.8 million) between Jan and May this year. Clearly, GIC must have made a loss in investing more than US$800 million in Nielsen:

 

 

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

钟丽慧:环境局建议下 戴口罩手套拜访被隔离家庭

淡滨尼集选区议员钟丽慧称,为保护其他居民和自愿者,本身是在环境局官员的建议下,戴上口罩和手套去探访被隔离的家庭。 上周五(7日),我国卫生部证实本地再有三名新加坡公民确诊,其中第31起病例,是一名一名52岁男子,曾在上月6日、11日和17日去过邻国马来西亚。入院前曾到过麦波申路的新加坡基督生命堂(The Life Church and Missions),也曾向亲友拜年。 有关病患住在淡滨尼24街。钟丽慧曾在上周五发文表示,与环境局官员一同对受影响楼层进行消毒和清洁工作。 不过,一些网民以及人民力量党秘书长吴明盛,则在贴文质疑,为何行动党领袖和部长呼吁,只有身体不适才需带口罩,但为何钟丽慧拜访居民时却“未遵照上级指示?” 对此钟丽慧在周六的脸书贴文解释,当时她去拜访病患受隔离的家庭,并送上白米等日常用品。 他也指出为了保障其他居民和志愿者健康,所以踩在环境局建议下戴上口罩和手套,且事后都有妥善丢弃。 她也反击“现如今肯定不是进行政治破坏和散播恐惧的时机。我们都要做好个人责任和卫生,并照顾社群例的群众。” 大部分居民能理解钟丽慧是因为探访被隔离家庭送物资,所以才戴口罩以减少感染几率。…

NCMP Leon Perera surprised at Minister Tan’s claim of “stirring hate and anger”

Non-constituency Member of Parliament, Leon Perera says that he is surprised at…

Ong Ye Kung: We’re determined to never let far-right populist politics to gather strength

In his address to members of the European Chamber of Commerce (EuroCham)…

MediaCorp offers apology regarding insensitive remarks made on Ok Chope! against PM Najib

One of the segment on comedy show Ok Chope!, which aired on…