Julian Robertson

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Julian H. Robertson Jr. (born 1932) is a former American hedge fund manager. He currently invests directly in other hedge funds.

He was born in Salisbury, North Carolina in the United States. Robertson founded the investment firm Tiger Management Corp., one of the earliest hedge funds. Robertson is credited with turning $8 million in start-up capital in 1980 into over $22 billion in the late 1990s, though that was followed by a fast downward spiral of investor withdrawals that ended with the fund closing in 2000.

In 1993, his compensation and share of Tiger's gain exceeded $300 million. His 2003 estimated net worth was over $400 million, and in 2009 it was estimated by Forbes at $1.3 billion, a decline from the $1.8 billion estimate in 2008.^{[1] [2]} Robertson said in 2008 that he shorted subprime securities and made money through credit default swaps. ^[3].

Contents 1 Early life 2 Tiger funds 3 After Tiger 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

[edit] Early life

Robertson is a native of North Carolina, the son of Julian Hart Robertson Sr., a textile company executive, and the former Blanche Spencer.^[4] He graduated from Episcopal High School in 1951 and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1955. While at Chapel Hill, he was admitted to Zeta Psi fraternity. He then served as an officer in the U.S. Navy until 1957. He worked for a time as a stockbroker for Kidder, Peabody & Co., where he later headed up the firm's asset management division (Webster Securities) before departing to move to New Zealand for a year. On his return, Robertson launched Tiger Management with initial investments from friends and family.

[edit] Tiger funds

The Tiger funds reached a peak of $22 billion in assets in 1998. But because of poor stock picking and failure to exploit the technology stock craze, Robertson suffered large losses at the end of the decade, causing investors to withdraw cash.^[5] When the Standard and Poor's 500-stock index climbed 21 percent in 1999, the Tiger funds declined 19 percent.

Tiger's largest equity holding at that time was U.S. Airways, whose troubles dragged down the value of his holdings. Such missteps ultimately led him to close his investment company in March 2000 and return all outside capital to investors. Tiger earlier made $2bn in gains but then gave most of them back during a huge one-day move in the yen in 1998. In September 2001, Robertson distributed 24.8 million greatly devalued U.S. Airways shares over to former investors in Tiger. Robertson declared his intent to keep the stock.^[6] U.S. Airways declared bankruptcy in August 2002, and shareholders in the airline were wiped out.^[7]

[edit] After Tiger

Today, Robertson is an active philanthropist and serves on a number of organization and university boards. He is the founder and benefactor of the Robertson Scholars Program which awards a merit scholarship that provides four-year full-tuition, room and board, and travel funding for 36 Duke and University of North Carolina students each year.

He also is active as an investor and developer in New Zealand, where he spends much of his time. He owns both Kauri Cliffs Lodge near Kerikeri in Northland, and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay, as well as several wineries.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• The Greatest Investors - Julian Robertson
• Tiger Management Closes
• Sumitomo's Copper Trader's Arrangements -- CFTC (Investigation)
• Strachman, Daniel A. Julian Robertson: A Tiger in the land of Bulls and Bears. New York: Wiley, 2004

[edit] External links

• Tiger's Julian Robertson Roars Again — Fortune/CNN Money, 1/28/08