Founded in 1988 by David E. Shaw, the New York-based investment management firm D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. employs primarily systematic and computer-driven trading methods. D. E. Shaw & Co. started with six employees and $28 million in capital, swiftly becoming a trailblazer in computational finance. In its early stages, the setup was rudimentary, with exposed pipes and extension cords; a single cable mishap could disrupt the entire trading system. Presently, the firm boasts over 2,500 global employees and a robust, institutional-grade infrastructure resilient to such mishaps. Nevertheless, we uphold our core values of creativity, entrepreneurship, and the pursuit of innovation.
David E. Shaw, who obtained his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1980, previously served as a faculty member in the Computer Science Department at Columbia University until 1986. Following this tenure, he transitioned to computational finance at Morgan Stanley before establishing D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. In 2002, Shaw initiated the formation of a scientific team at D.E. Shaw Research, LLC, alongside the establishment of an executive committee comprising six members. Subsequently, he delegated day-to-day management responsibilities of D.E. Shaw & Co., L.P. Since 2010, Shaw has dedicated the majority of his time to his role as Chief Scientist of D.E. Shaw Research, LLC, where he leads an interdisciplinary research group specializing in computational biochemistry.
D. E. Shaw & Company serves 31 clients with $120,474,556,565 in discretionary assets under management (AUM) as of April 2024, according to their Form ADV. Their most recent 13F filing for Q4 2023 revealed $114,442,669,988 in managed 13F securities, with a top 10 holdings concentration of 12.43%. Microsoft Corp. is their largest holding, with 6,831,558 shares held.