CIBC takes 5.3% Flutter Entertainment stake
What's the deal? The Canadian Imperial Bank of CommerceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (CIBC) has acquired a 5.3% stake in Flutter Entertainment, the world's largest online gambling company. A filing to the London Stock Exchange showed CIBC crossed the threshold on May 15, with no previous holding in the business.
CIBC is one of Canada's "Big Five" banks, alongside the Royal Bank of CanadaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of MontrealDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Scotiabank.
Why now? Flutter's share price has plummeted over 55% in 2025, dropping to $96.36 — likely the catalyst for a flurry of investor activity. Group chief executive officer Peter Jackson recently increased his holdings, while chair John Bryant and non-executive officer Stefan Bomhard also bought more shares.
The company is in the middle of a 10-week, $250M share buyback programme that began on March 11, part of a broader $5B buyback plan. Outgoing FanDuel chief executive officer Amy Howe, meanwhile, sold off 4,711 of her Flutter shares via JPMorgan.
What could go wrong? Flutter faces several ongoing and upcoming headwinds despite bullish analyst sentiment. The steep share price decline signals the market has real concerns about the Ireland-headquartered firm's near-term prospects.
The signal: CIBC's 5.3% stake isn't a venture bet — it's a corporate investor backing a mature, publicly listed gambling giant whose share price has more than halved this year. The convergence of institutional buying, insider purchases, and an aggressive $5B buyback programme at these depressed levels suggests big money views Flutter's sell-off as a mispricing rather than a structural decline.
