Travel
Gates and World’s Rich Win Big on Private-Jet Firm’s 196% Surge
- Billionaires own more than a fifth of Signature Aviation stock
- The shares have surged amid Covid-19 fallout, takeover fight
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The coronavirus crisis hasn’t stopped the world’s wealthy from flying -- they’re just increasingly doing it privately, and some are getting outsized returns from it.
Bill Gates, Nassef Sawiris, James Packer and Kerry Stokes have accumulated more than $1.2 billion in the world’s largest operator of private-jet bases, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company, Signature Aviation Plc, has recently become the focus of a takeover fight involving Blackstone Group Inc., Carlyle Group Inc. and Global Infrastructure Partners, helping its shares almost triple since a low in mid-March.