Hedge Hunters: Hedge Fund Masters on the Rewards, the Risk, and the Reckoning

by Katherine Burton

Overview

The legends who created the trillion-dollar hedge fund world are brilliant at picking investments, astute at spotting talent—and notorious for secrecy. Now, these top managers talk frankly about the challenges they face and how they enter, exit, and size their trades.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780470885185
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	06/04/2010
Series:	Bloomberg , #22
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	206
File size:	400 KB

About the Author

Katherine Burton has been a reporter at Bloomberg News since 1993, covering hedge funds and investment management. Before joining Bloomberg, she wrote for the International Herald Tribune and U.S. News & World Report. She has an MBA from New York University and is a winner of the 2001 Society of American Business Editors and Writers Award for breaking news, and the 2005 New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Award for Excellence in Journalism for business writing.

Table of Contents

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

Chapter 1 Introduction (Mark Yusko).

What It Takes to Be the Best.

Chapter 2 Masters (Michael Steinhardt).

A Passion for Performance.

Chapter 3 Steinhardt's Pick (John Armitage).

Reasoned and Unrattled.

Chapter 4 Masters (Marc Lasry).

An Intolerance for Losing.

Chapter 5 Lasry's Pick (Craig Effron).

A Grip on Risk.

Chapter 6 Masters (Lee Ainslie).

A Stock Picker, Pure and Hardly Simple.

Chapter 7 Ainslie's Pick (Bernay Box).

The Big Time in Small Caps.

Chapter 8 Masters (Boone Pickens).

The Imperturbable Oilman.

Chapter 9 Pickens's Picks (Brian Bradshaw, David Meaney, Michael Ross, and Alex Szewczyk).

A Place at the Table.

Chapter 10 Masters (Josh Friedman and Mitch Julis).

Doyens of Debt.

Chapter 11 Friedman's and Julis's Picks (Jeffrey Schachter and Burton Weinstein).

Leaving Little to Chance.

Chapter 12 Masters (Dwight Anderson).

The Phoenix Phenomenon.

Chapter 13 Anderson's Pick (Roberto Mignone).

Fruits of Firsthand Knowledge.

Chapter 14 Anderson's Pick (Bruce Ritter).

Mastering a Changing Market.

Chapter 15 Masters (Julian Robertson).

Encores.

Chapter 16 Masters (Jim Chanos).

Out on the Short-Selling Limb.

Chapter 17 Masters (Richard Perry).

A Manager's Manager.

Chapter 18 Masters (Daniel Loeb).

Newfound Restraint.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

Like other books profiling hedge fund managers, this one promises "unprecedented candor" and a view "behind tightly closed doors," but some of the 23 managers profiled gave similar interviews in books such as Market Wizards, The New Investment Superstarsand Inside the House of Money, and some have written books of their own. Bloomberg News reporter Burton does break new ground by profiling 13 up-and-coming managers selected by 10 acknowledged "leaders and legends." Compared with other authors, she is more interested in the personal and business qualities needed to build a successful asset management business than in pure trading ability. She concentrates on stock pickers rather than others, such as managers who trade in nonequity markets. But the interviews tend to be soft: we learn about the managers' "boyish good looks," telephone ring tones, rapper friends and art collections, among other personal details. When conversations turn to trading, the managers usually supply anecdotes of successful trades, often with tension as the market initially moves against them. This is a pleasant and well-written book for readers interested in the people and business of hedge funds, rather than their investment techniques. (Nov.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

With these profiles of 18 successful hedge fund managers, Bloomberg News reporter Burton sheds light on hedge funds, which are maintained by private investment partnerships using aggressive strategies for higher returns. While she provides personal background information on the managers, her descriptions of the managers' varying investing styles make up the true value of her work. For instance, she explains that the legendary Boone Pickens runs his fund informally but with a focused, long-term view on the energy sector. One unifying theme throughout is that successful hedge funds, no matter what their style, always strive to maintain a moneymaking edge over the market based on analysis, experience, or other techniques. Burton's clearly written work is a fine introduction to hedge funds for both the interested reader and those contemplating a career in this area of investment. Steven Drobny's more cerebral Inside the House of Moneyis less accessible to general readers, and neither his book nor Burton's provides the drama of James Cramer's classic hedge-fund autobiography, Confessions of a Street Addict. Burton's contribution would be a solid addition to business collections in both public and academic libraries.
—Lawrence R. Maxted

Library Journal

"Well-written. . . . Burton breaks new ground by profiling thirteen up-and-coming managers selected by ten acknowledged 'leaders and legends.'" (Publishers Weekly)

"A fine introduction to hedge funds for both the interested reader and those contemplating a career in this area of investment." (Library Journal)

"A readable, relevant book, with lessons a new generation of hedge-fund managers... would do well to take to heart." (Barron's, December 3, 2007)

From the Publisher