- The $3.3 trillion hedge fund industry saw several big names call it quits in 2019, as Appaloosa founder David Tepper and Moore Capital chief Louis Bacon both decided to turn their funds into family offices, while Bridgewater’s co-CEO Eileen Murray announced she is leaving her post next year.
- Other names, like BlueMountain co-founders Stephen Siderow and Andrew Feldstein, were partially pushed out of the industry thanks to poor performance.
- In the last couple years, big names like Jonathon Jacobson, Leon Cooperman, Jason Karp, John Griffin, Eric Mindich, and more have closed down their funds.
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Jonathon Jacobson, the billionaire founder of Highfields Capital Management who returned outside capital last year, reportedly wasn’t having fun anymore when he closed his fund.
David Tepper, however, looks like he’s having the time of his life.
The billionaire founder of Appaloosa Management announced that he was turning his fund into a family office in May, with the understanding that he’d be spending more time focusing on the football team — the NFL’s Carolina Panthers — he recently bought.
Not only has he put his stamp on Panthers already, firing the firm’s long-time coach, but Tepper has also brought a Major League Soccer team to Charlotte. According to The Charlotte Observer, Tepper — who was known for having a set of brass testicles on his office desk at New Jersey-based Appaloosa — teased the mayor of Charlotte at the announcement ceremony for the new team, imitated Elvis, and predicted that the soccer games will be “a little bit of a party.”
“Charlotte loves a party. And we’re going to bring them a party,” he said.
While not every big name that has stepped back or left the hedge fund industry this year is living it up like Tepper, there are still notable things on the horizon for people like Eileen Murray and Louis Bacon.