(Reuters) – Large block transactions on Friday that caused a surge in sales in a group of companies were driven by more than $ 10 billion in sales by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., media reported on Saturday.
Shares of ViacomCBS and Discovery plummeted by about 27% every Friday, while US-listed shares of Baidu and Tencent Music in China fell during the week to 33.5% and 48.5% from Tuesday’s closing levels.
Eric Handler of MKM Partners, which covers Discovery, said on Friday that large blocks of shares in both Viacom and Discovery were introduced on the market on Friday, which could exacerbate the declines.
In an email to customers seen by Bloomberg News, it was said that Goldman sold $ 6.6 billion worth of shares to Baidu Inc., Tencent Music Entertainment Group and Vipshop Holdings Ltd, before the US market opened on Friday. shows in Saturday’s report. bloom.bg/3lYOrZm
After that, Goldman sold $ 3.9 billion worth of shares to ViacomCBS Inc., Discovery Inc., Farfetch Ltd, iQIYI Inc. and GSX Techedu Inc., according to the report.
A source familiar with the matter said on Saturday that Goldman was involved in major block transactions.
Goldman Sachs did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Financial Times reported that Morgan Stanley sold $ 4 billion worth of shares earlier that day, followed by another $ 4 billion in the afternoon.
Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
The Financial Times reported that Goldman told counterparties that sales were caused by a “forced release,” citing people familiar with the matter.
CNBC reported here that sales pressure was due to the liquidation of positions by the Archegos Capital Management family office, citing a source with direct knowledge of the situation. A person from Archegos who answered the phone declined to comment.
Reporting by Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ken Li, Megan Davies and Sinead Carew; Editing by Diane Craft and Daniel Wallis