$13 BILLION FUND: The hedge fund industry has a PR problem

Philip Brown/Reuters

The hedge fund industry would be more likable if only better PR teams managed their outreach, says an exec at one of the industry’s top funds.

“Hedge funds should hire the same PR firm that private equity firms did because private equity has completely nailed it on the PR perspective,” Andrew Rabinowitz, president of $13 billion Marathon Asset Management, said on a panel at the Absolute Return Symposium in New York on March 16.

He also said that hedge funders’ philanthropy goes underreported by the press.

“I started an endowment and we donate to children’s hospitals,” Rabinowitz said. “Three weeks ago … we won a presidential citation for one of the programs we did for the children’s hospital. You know how much press covered that? Zero.”

Financial media does occasionally cover charity events. The hedge fund industry employs plenty of PR people, mostly at external agencies, whose press releases about said charity events fill up reporters’ inboxes.

“Now, if I left Marathon or got fired from Marathon, you know how many people would cover that?” Rabinowitz asked the crowd. “Probably more than zero.”