When Amaranth was blown to smithereens, we all had a good laugh about it. A fund lost $6 billion in one week because a brash young ichthyophile bet the wrong way on everything? That's hilarious. Plus: the genius trader and his boss really weren't affected, monetarily, as evidenced by the latter's chutzpah in threatening his investors not to sue him and the carefree attitude toward huge legal fees exhibited by the former. It's like Katrina, see-you can laugh about a disaster if no one got hurt. (I also challenge you to name one person who wouldn't pay to fulfill their childhood fantasy of having a sleepover in the Astrodome). LTCM? The tears are still streaming down our faces.
Today, however, our attitude toward the destruction of hedge funds took a hit. John Devaney, the United Capital Markets founder who recently suspended investor withdrawals on his $620 million hedge fund portfolios, has put his yacht up for sale. For John Devaney, "Positive Carry" wasn't just a boat. It was a big boat. And now, thanks to the markets, the god-damned markets, John Devaney is voluntarily stripping himself-at a starting price of $23.5 million-of his pride and joy. JD is also trying to get $16.5 million for his 16-bedroom house in Aspen, which he bought for $16.25 million in November.
Are you getting all this? A man is going to be without his yacht and ski lodge. All he's going to be left with are a Gulfstream jet, a waterfront mansion, and a helicopter.
There's an almost unbearable sadness about this permeating DBHQ. Carney's perma-glib has disappeared--he's been in the men's room, silent, for hours.
ANCHORS AWAY! FUND BOSS' YACHT ON BLOCK [NYP]
Disgusted With Hedge Funds? [thestreet.com]
Posted by , Jul 30, 2007 11:03AM
check the bloomberg story on the bearded smoker
Posted by em , Jul 30, 2007 11:09AM
it's always sad when a man's dream comes crashing down around him. Fortunately, for truly good investors/traders with enough personal capital, they can just manage their own money and do swimmingly. Barring any future erroneous bets on subprime, i suspect devaney will turn out just fine.
Posted by , Jul 30, 2007 11:16AM
good thing you didnt check fridays dealbreaker.com.. where they did the exact same story...
wait..
Posted by , Jul 30, 2007 11:18AM
oh, except they didn't, it was just linked to in write offs and now they're expanding.
Posted by Dave Chappelle , Jul 30, 2007 11:46AM
Sowood is toast:
*CITADEL RELEASE HAS NO DETAILS ON SOWOOD AGREEMENT
*CITADEL ANNOUNCES SOWOOD AGREEMENT IN NEWS RELEASE
*CITADEL TO ASSUME SOWOOD'S CREDIT PORTFOLIO
Seriously people, keep a running tally (starting with Pirate Capital or similar). It will put the whole thing in perspective...
Posted by , Jul 30, 2007 12:06PM
Citadel and the well funded highly liquid risk takers are going to pick up every distressed asset on the street, probably end up netting more than the original losses
Posted by Ben_H , Jul 30, 2007 12:12PM
What should "Positive Carry" be re-christened?
"Margin Call"
"Negative Convexity"
"Busted Residual"
or, wait: "Under Water"?
Posted by , Jul 30, 2007 12:21PM
i just had to pawn my 8-track player to make rent, lifes tough.
Posted by Dramamine Necessary , Jul 30, 2007 12:26PM
From "Tackle To Go" website:
David Smyth recently resigned his assistant managerial post at Crook and Crook to work with his friend Captain Whitney Reiter in maintaining and operating the Devaney fleet on Key Biscayne. The Devaney navy consists of ten or more vessels [and growing] owned by financial wizard and bond guru John Devaney. The latest addition is a brand new 149 foot Trinity Yacht recently purchased from the factory in New Orleans. The John Devaney saga is the quintessential American success story. Devaney, a Coral Gables High School grad, matriculated to college in Colorado and after some mixed success in the fiscal world gravitated into the arcane world of bond trading where he quickly became a major player. John combined hard work, intelligence, chutzpah, incredible timing, and the Midas touch to reach the pinnacle of his craft. Just like ol’ blue eyes he did it his way. John D. can now concentrate on his global financial trading and his anonymous charitable works knowing his armada is in the capable hands of Admiral Reiter and Captain Smyth.
Posted by new names , Jul 30, 2007 12:50PM
More like "Sunk Cost".
Posted by Fred , Jul 30, 2007 2:27PM
If I am not mistaken JD started with about 500K which he made by working in bars and flipping property. Give the guy a break, other guys in the biz need billions to pull this shit off and JD did it from scratch, literally, scratch.
Posted by Dan , Nov 12, 2007 3:57PM
Everyone makes mistakes. He'll be back on top in no time. Not too many traders out there amass a few hundred million dollars from nothing. He's still got it. Just hit a bump in the road. All you haters out there are just jealous.
Posted by guest , Jul 10, 2008 12:45PM
Building his operations from scratch is commendable. what i don't understand is why he needed to buy a $20mm yacht, $17mm home in miami, $$mm home in aspen, $9mm renior, $30mm gulfstream, $18mm helicopter and countless other examples of stupid spending. he managed <$1b - i know funds managing much more and their managers don't need all that crap. hearing he shed $150mm in personal wealth means nothing to his investors b/c it was all stupid stuff that he shouldn't have had in the first place. he may have come from humble beginnings, but that doesn't mean shit if you piss your investors' money away by being stupid. this cunt deserved this and his pathetic crying to creditors and ego-centered attempts to 'make it back for investors' (yeah right) is lost in the noise. cry me a river, fuckface!
Posted by guest , Oct 31, 2008 1:59PM
millions of hardworking american cannot meet their bills and are losing their homes on a daily basis.u.s jobs are being lost daily.some folks have to decide whether to eat or buy their prescriptions and i hear that poor old john devaney has to sell his 16 room house in aspen,sell his plane and helicopter..........so sad.what are the the words i am thinking of ? oh yeah......flambouyant,greedy,precocious,and pompous show off!!! go live on the streets like some of our veterans,unemployed and homeless folks.LIVE BY THE SWORD,DIE BY THE SWORD!
Posted by guest , Oct 31, 2008 2:00PM
millions of hardworking american cannot meet their bills and are losing their homes on a daily basis.u.s jobs are being lost daily.some folks have to decide whether to eat or buy their prescriptions and i hear that poor old john devaney has to sell his 16 room house in aspen,sell his plane and helicopter..........so sad.what are the the words i am thinking of ? oh yeah......flambouyant,greedy,precocious,and pompous show off!!! go live on the streets like some of our veterans,unemployed and homeless folks.LIVE BY THE SWORD,DIE BY THE SWORD!
Posted by guest , Oct 31, 2008 2:00PM
millions of hardworking american cannot meet their bills and are losing their homes on a daily basis.u.s jobs are being lost daily.some folks have to decide whether to eat or buy their prescriptions and i hear that poor old john devaney has to sell his 16 room house in aspen,sell his plane and helicopter..........so sad.what are the the words i am thinking of ? oh yeah......flambouyant,greedy,precocious,and pompous show off!!! go live on the streets like some of our veterans,unemployed and homeless folks.LIVE BY THE SWORD,DIE BY THE SWORD!
Posted by guest , Oct 31, 2008 2:00PM
millions of hardworking american cannot meet their bills and are losing their homes on a daily basis.u.s jobs are being lost daily.some folks have to decide whether to eat or buy their prescriptions and i hear that poor old john devaney has to sell his 16 room house in aspen,sell his plane and helicopter..........so sad.what are the the words i am thinking of ? oh yeah......flambouyant,greedy,precocious,and pompous show off!!! go live on the streets like some of our veterans,unemployed and homeless folks.LIVE BY THE SWORD,DIE BY THE SWORD!
Posted by guest , Oct 31, 2008 2:01PM
POMPOUS BASTARD DESERVED IT!! NO SYMPATHY HERE!!!