For Billionaire Glenn Dubin, Rough Run Keeps Getting Rougher (Bloomberg)
These are uneasy times for hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin. His latest investment firm, the $1 billion Engineers Gate, has struggled to keep up with the market since its founding in 2014. Then in August, a bombshell hit: the money manager and his wife were very publicly drawn into the scandal surrounding Jeffrey Epstein. Now, a toxic mix of lackluster investment returns, a restive key client and unwanted notoriety has left Dubin working to contain the damage — at the very moment he’s trying to win over new investors, people familiar with the matter say.
Hedge Funds Tiger Global, Coatue Got Crushed in September (The Wall Street Journal)
Prominent hedge funds lost money in September, a swift comedown after a relatively strong run for the industry at large. Several technology-focused funds were among those hit hard. Tiger Global Management LLC, a hedge fund founded by billionaire Charles “Chase” Coleman, lost 7.4% last month, said people familiar with the numbers. Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management LLC lost about 6%, Whale Rock Capital Management LLC dropped 14%, and Glen Kacher’s Light Street Capital Management LLC lost around 10%, according to people familiar…
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Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Ray Dalio Says His ‘Most Valuable’ Principle is Meditation (Yahoo Finance)
Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, has become well-known for promoting so-called radical transparency, the notion that workplaces should be open about people’s mistakes and weaknesses. The billionaire hedge fund manager made radical transparency a central theme of his best-selling self-help book from 2017, “Principles,” which has also spawned a complimentary app called “Principles in Action.” But in an interview this week with Yahoo Finance’s Melody Hahm, Dalio said that his most valuable principle is “to meditate.”
Citadel Hires Ex-Goldman Trading Head to Run Credit (Pensions&Investments)
Pablo Salame, one of Wall Street’s most prominent trading executives, was hired by Citadel to lead the credit business at the $32 billion firm. Mr. Salame, who helped run Goldman Sachs Group’s massive trading division for a decade before leaving last year, will fill a role that’s been vacant for almost seven months after Eric Felder departed. Ken Griffin, Citadel’s billionaire founder and CEO, has been overseeing the credit business since then.
Shuttered Hedge Fund Arrowgrass Writes Down Fun Fair Bets by 70% (Bloomberg)
Arrowgrass Capital Partners slashed the valuation of its stake in Britain’s oldest surviving amusement park, piling further losses on investors in Nick Niell’s shuttered hedge fund. Arrowgrass has written down its stake in the Dreamland park owner in the seaside town of Margate to 19.7 million euros ($21.6 million) over the last month, about 70% below its previous valuation, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The decision resulted from a third-party valuation of Dreamland, a revised business forecast for the property and the closure of Arrowgrass, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Did ExodusPoint Over-hire and Over-Pay? (eFinancialCareers.com)
If you were reading eFinancialCareers last year, you will be familiar with ExodusPoint Capital Management. It’s the hedge fund founded by Millennium Management alum Michael Gelband. It did a lot of hiring in 2018 across both the front and the back office. More recently, there have been a few departures and some possibly spurious claims by rivals to the effect that Gelband’s creation hired more people than were warranted, particularly after a not-so-great performance in the first half of 2019.
Hedge Fund Darsana Slashes Juul’s Valuation by More Than a Third (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge fund Darsana Capital Partners recently wrote down its investment in Juul Labs Inc. by more than a third and now holds it at a price that values the e-cigarette company at $24 billion, said people familiar with the matter. The New York firm is one of a number of hedge funds that rode Juul to big gains last year on the back of a December deal by tobacco company Altria Group Inc. that instantly made Juul one of the most valuable startups in the U.S.
A Self-taught Hedge Fund Manager Who’s Returned 19%-plus Annually to Investors Since 2012 Shares the 3 Books that ‘Put it All Together’ for Him (Business Insider)
Steven Kiel, founder and portfolio manager at Arquitos Capital, took anything but the conventional route to become a multi-million-dollar hedge fund manager. In fact, he was a soldier and attorney for a number of years before he took his investing hobby to the next level. But that unorthodox path hasn’t stopped him from rewarding investors with market-trouncing returns. Since 2012, he’s achieved net annualized returns of 19.7%, with his most recent performance tipping the scales at 26.1%. Over that same time period, the S&P 500’s performance pales in comparison, with a roughly 13% annualized return.
Will Buffett Add More Buybacks? Darker Hedge Fund Days(Podcast) (Bloomberg)
In this week’s Bloomberg Intelligence Radio show, analyst Alison Williams examines how lower fees and tougher money flows are challenging hedge funds. David Ritter looks at how Schwab’s move to wipe out trading fees will accelerate its asset growth and spread the broker price war to other segments. Mandeep Singh explains why the We IPO debacle will drive consolidation in the drive-sharing economy. Matt Palazola analyzes why Warren Buffett’s Berkshire may use its excess cash to boost share buybacks, and Rob Barnett discusses how Germany’s climate policies are speeding up coal’s demise and reducing the need for oil.
