Maverick Capital’s top stock-picker Andrew Warford is leaving the $9 billion fund to run his own family office

Long-serving Maverick Capital executive Andrew Warford is leaving the $9 billion hedge fund.

Warford, chairman of the firm’s stock committee and de facto head of the fund, is departing after 18 years, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Warford holds a sizable economic interest in the fund — he has a stake of at least 25% of the firm, according to regulatory filings. Sources tell Insider he will run his family office from Minnesota.

A Maverick Capital spokesman declined to comment beyond saying that Warford is still a partner at the fund. Warford did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Lee Ainslie, Maverick’s billionaire founder, hired Warford away from Viking Global in 2003 as his technology sector head after suffering a rash of departures, according to an article from Institutional Investor.

In the ensuing years, Warford was a top performer and ascended the ranks at Maverick. He was tapped to head up the stock committee in 2012 and became a managing partner in 2013 as Ainslie gradually stepped back and delegated more power.

Warford oversaw investment and trading decisions in the firm’s largest funds as well as the team of five sector heads that had final say over the stocks in the firm’s portfolios.

Maverick bested the average hedge fund last year, with a 15.8% performance for 2020, and saw a big opportunity following the GameStop-fueled market volatility wrought by Reddit-reading retail traders. Ainslie told investors earlier this month in a letter that the firm believes “that we are poised to take advantage of the incredible long and short opportunities that have been created by this hedge fund unwind.”