question: if they have a meeting weekly, does it mean that entire staff knows about the systems? I bet computer programist know EVERYTHING.. now, doesn't it mean that they can simply take those models and start their own funds?
Not anymore - Carlos Slim took over the #2 spot recently. Here's a link from none other than your buddy Jim Cramer if you don't believe it. http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoopi/f...51631.html?cm_ven=QUIGO&cm_cat=FREE&cm_ite=NA
I do not think developers see full picture, otherwise what you mentioned would have happened. More likely they only see code pieces, and then 1 or 2 most trusted, probably partners put them together. The sever security must be nuts in this place.
Words have it that only the very top knows the big picture. Don't be fooled. Town-hall meetings can't be very revealing.
I went to Forbes, they still show that Buffet #2 http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/07/bi..._07billionaires_cz_lk_af_0308billie_land.html
I went to Forbes, they still show that Buffet #2 http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/07/bi..._07billionaires_cz_lk_af_0308billie_land.html and they said that Helu made 19 billions last year, thats 19 times more that rentec quants and that mexican-lebanese dude doesnt seem to be a quant at all ;-)
The 'town-hall meetings' are, AFAIK, assemblages to hear presentations by invited guest speakers, rather than company-wide discussions of strategy.
Actually... That's not the way it would work. There are 2 main things that keep operations "secret": (1) Iron-clad non-disclosure agreements. These are VERY enforceable in court... And just the threats and fear factor is effective. (2) Very few people can build a firm to compete with these guys... Not some coder... not some quant with a PhD... So few... maybe 1 in 10,000 people... That it's not much to worry about. What these guys are doing is not such a Big Secret anyway... There are only so many ways to practice arbitrage... Most things they are coding is just classic methodology... The edge comes from execution, execution, execution.