By Carleton English July 13, 2017 | 4:02pm | Updated Modal Trigger Moore Capital founder Louis Bacon Denver Post via Getty Images More On: louis bacon Judge has no interest in reinstating billionaire's $50M defamation suit Peter Nygard fabricates news clips in 'smoking gun' video Judge tosses Louis Bacon's defamation suit against Peter Nygard Ex-model says she was held hostage in billionaires' feud Louis Bacon’s hedge fund just got a little leaner. The billionaire’s Moore Capital Management cut 30 jobs at its New York and London offices, a spokesperson for the firm confirmed. Moore Capital’s headcount reduction accounts for 7 percent of the $13.4 billion fund’s 427 person workforce. “Like many firms in our industry, Moore Capital Management has taken steps to respond to the current trading environment, including making the difficult decision to reexamine our staffing levels,” a spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The fund — whose founder Bacon last year gained notoriety for his bitter property-line dispute in the Bahamas with clothing magnate Peter Nygard — is down roughly 2 percent this year through June, according to data provided by HSBC. Hedge funds, on average, returned 3.7 percent through the first half of the year, according to data provided by HFR. Their performance is eclipsed by the S&P 500, which gained 8 percent over the same period. Amid challenges in the industry, Moore Capital cut its management fee in its flagship fund late last year by half a percent to 2.5 percent, the Wall Street Journal reported in December. Other hedge funds responding to pressure from investors over fees include Brevan Howard and Tudor Investment Corp., which have cut their fees outright. http://nypost.com/2017/07/13/bacons-moore-capital-fires-workers-amid-hedge-fund-woes/
More and more investors are waking up to the failure of active management vs lower cost ETFs. Seems like Hedgies are going the way of buggy whips and phone books. The hedge fund popularity top can be traced to Marketsurfer moving to Palm Beach and starting PB Hedge Fund Assoc a few years ago. His market timing (any market) has never been...pristine.
"not enough volatility." that is just an excuse. if they would have behaved like hedge funds use to invest, by being both long and short equities, they would have had outstanding results.
Not sure of the complete story, but I doubt it was primarily criticism of his methods or the general lack of success. At least, that never seemed to deter him in the past. I suspect it was mostly the stress of a new baby. Surfer probably wasn't getting much sleep. I expect he'll be back soon enough.
He's a legend in the industry, but for pretty much the wrong reasons... Another example of a guy who had always been able to trade his reputation and career orders of magnitude better than the capital he was given.