How NBCU Missed Out on Billions in Gains on Snap and Peloton

This week Snap crossed an important symbolic milestone: The company, buoyed by an investor presentation that painted a rosy picture of its future, surpassed $100 billion in market value. Its shares are up 320% since late 2019. But one former shareholder likely isn’t so pleased: NBCUniversal.

The Comcast-owned entertainment company sold out of Snap at the end of 2019, barely breaking even on its initial $500 million investment, which it made when Snap went public. Had NBCU held onto the stock, it would be worth about $2 billion at Snap’s highest point earlier this week. And that wasn’t NBCU’s only mistimed sale last year: It dumped a stake it held in Peloton last spring before shares in the exercise equipment maker took off during the pandemic. NBCU ended up missing as much as $2.7 billion in potential combined gains on the two investments, the equivalent of about 45% of its 2020 profits.