Billionaire John Paulson’s Long-Term Bets: Time Warner Cable Inc, Mallinckrodt PLC and More

Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ:CMCSA) placed a bid to acquire Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) for $45.2 billion in February last year. The two companies are still awaiting permission from Federal Communications Commission and United States Department of Justice in relation to the public interest statement that they filed in April 2014. It is expected that a decision will be reached over the next few weeks. Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC)’s fourth quarter results were a little towards the disappointing side as residential video customers continued to decline. However, revenue growth in business services and advertisement was enough to push the operating income up by 4.5% from last quarter. Earnings per Share (EPS) of $2.03 missed estimates by $0.06 and revenues of $5.79 billion were $20 million lighter than expected.

Our final entrant on the list, Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE:MNK) is a $13.92 billion global specialty pharmaceuticals company. Paulson added a meager 12,300 shares to his stake, which stood at 9.01 million shares valued at $892.49 million at the end of 2014. Back when the company had its debut in Paulson’s portfolio, the fund held 5.64 million shares. With a 154% increase in stock price, this is another of Paulson’s long term picks that has gained considerable value during this time. Billionaire David Shaw’s D.E. Shaw owned about 1.38 milllion shares valued at $136.91 million at the end of 2014.

Mallinckrodt PLC (NYSE:MNK) hasn’t failed Paulson on the M&A front this year as the company bought the privately held Ikaria for nearly $2.3 billion this month. The deal is expected to add $150 million to Malinckrodt’s top line and $0.25 to EPS.

Disclosure: none