Ladies, if you’ve been looking to work under one of the greats, today is your lucky day. Not Lenny Dykstra– you wish– but the next best thing. Biff Basness is looking to fill a couple of positions ASAP. AQR’s head of trading, who “more or less built up the whole trading desk by himself” and was “in charge of the firm’s discretionary and high frequency trading operations” quit yesterday. Some color from inside the lair:
Management hired some dinosaur over from GS and made him [redacted]‘s boss. It was a strictly marketing decision as they didn’t want to tell stodgy pension fund guys that the head trader is only 29. It makes you look better to stick some balding 55 year old guy in front of gullible fund of funds guys. That has caused some friction for a while and [redacted] finally had enough and decided to quit. I cannot divulge where he is going as he is now locked in a fight to get out of a bogus non-compete agreement that he was pressured to sign when he joined the company some six years back.
Also parting ways with Biff a few weeks ago was the head convertible bond trader, who was apparently “responsible for nearly 100% of the trading in the convertible bond fund (also known as CNH), which is the only fund at AQR that has made any money lately and as such the only fund they have been marketing.”
As usual, the partners are painting these individuals as underperforming discontents whom they were “glad to see leave.” They were both very solid, well respected traders. The exodus continues. The only people remaining are those who cannot get jobs elsewhere, which includes all of the 13 overpaid, underskilled partners they have. There has been about 60% turnover in investment staff since early 2008, and the ones who quit were the cream of the crop. Their head of research works part-time at 15 hours a week (he’s a full-time professor at NYU). It’s a joke.
Update: According to a spokesman for AQR, “The individual was not ‘head of trading’ but rather trading desk manager. Contrary to what you’ve written, he has nothing to do with our high frequency trading. He held a relatively minor position, commensurate with his experience, and his new position outside the firm should build on that. We wish him well. We did not fight with him on his non-compete, despite what you wrote, and in fact released him from that immediately. As concerns the alleged ‘head convert trader’ – that, too overstates his role, which was execution only. He did not select bonds, value or manage them. That function is handled by two former professors from Harvard and Northwestern. Great guys.”
Yep, Matthew Weishar and Gildo Niutta.
oh man levin, you know this is going to awake the beast…
15 hours a week?!?!
how are their mutual funds doing?
@3 break me off a piece of that.
More bleeding out the Asness.
bbg shows ermenegildo niutta as former aqr and now ‘us converts’ at jonestrading
does biff have any friends left?
The reason why our partners are overpaid is that they can run the ship aground by themselves. We don’t need any of you malcontents here.
Suck it bitches
jeffreys has quants?
Beth, you vicious animal liar.
@7 congrats on being able to navigate a bberg
no problem as long as the chicago guido is still there. saw him in a lamborghini the other night in chelsea
15 hours a week? god damn that’s a sweet gig.
15 hours MAYBE if you include commute from manhattan
he doesn’t do anything anyways. the guy is a pure useless academic.
@13 is “the chicago guido” biff?
who’s next to quit?
@17 cliff?
@12 – my bberg is bigger than yours.
cliff looks so regal in that pic.
I live for these posts.
@16, NO NO NO- Biff is the farthest thing from a guido.
Google “Professor Frazzini on Style”
@22 something about him screams guido to me though. can’t you just see him sweating in a guinea tee?
guido guido guido
meep meep
And posts like these are why DB is my #1. Let the Biff-bashing begin!
(full disclosure: I agree with his political stances)
i love you beth levin.
are there any hot women at AQR?
I DEMAND someone explain to me what one of these “AQR” things is. Is this a new Goldman Sachs conspiracy to defraud the masses?
-Mark Klein, MD
Head of trading is a fucking golf playing douchebag. I don’t think he talks to the traders he’s responsible for for more than 1 hour [collectively] each week. However, he’s big into proclaiming that people should stay in the office until 2:00am every day/night – to baby sit the crappy systems – because that’s what they’re paid to do.
Jesus, just thinking about the meetings I’ve had with that douche make me feel unclean all over again.
No commentary on the Southampton pool parties attended by a Goldman honcho and graced with the presence of ” a lot of topless girls…”
Hmmmm.
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/wall_st_king_rowdy_parties_sJKCY7fRoqHzXRdhKkZjmJ
@30 it’s a pretty boring story (omg, there were topless girls at a private party?) that I’ll be getting to shortly. Biff is more important.
Mandar Drury topless at a party on the other hand…num num num num num
30,
I’m kind of a big deal. Be patient, cream stain.
I know all my private parties involve topless girls, bfd
–AJC
AQR will rise again
All of you sound like a bunch of whining little snot-nosed brats who were never lucky enough to make partner at AQR much less GS (pre-IPO much less).
Suck it so you shut the f*!!#! up
Muff Massnes
You will know me by the trail of 1997 Pontiac Firebirds.
#36
much less, much?
My O ring just fell off.
Stiff Staffness
Is Oliver Stone making a sequal to Sing Blade?
@29 is that you cliff
there is only one requirement to making partner at AQR and that is performing fellatio on Biff.
Explain me this. With 13 partners they had to bring in head of research from outside?
@43 w 15 hours a week of work it sounds like it’s mostly a symbolic gesture.
44 is right. there is no real research at AQR any more. They have some chinese fire drills going on that is mainly for fooling investors into thinking AQR is cooking up something new. Their last big research was replicating turtle trading models from “The Way of The Turtle” No joke. Call AQR up and ask.
None of the partners do any research. 2 are marketing. 1 backoffice. 1 legal (biff’s brother). 1 geezer from GS. 1 CFO (this guy was hired for the IPO that never happened and should now be fired). 8 do middle office work. And 1 part-time head of research.
wish you had a picture of the converts trader- he’s more handsome
@45 = Biff’s nemesis and estranged illicit lover, Diff.
Carney is now reporting the story though “he has not been able to verify independently.” May be he tried calling Biff but got re-biffed by Biff’s beefed-up biffretarial staff.
@47 carney’s “reporting” = copying the whole story from DB and then asking ppl to come forward with more details b/c he hasn’t been able to “verify” any of it
Biff just asked his IT geeks to pull the web proxy logs to see who’s been posting to DB. Let the witch hunt begin!
@49 that is misinformation. DB has long been blocked at AQR.
all iPhones are now being confiscated at AQR. The IT geeks are making rounds as I type this on my G-phone. Bess is there a way for me to upload pictures?
Biff’s face looks very red. I am scared.
Biff has pulled the bridge, cut off all cables with a battle axe and burned all cell phones on the pyre. The only way to communicate with AQR now is via messenger pigeons. They just sent a few sell orders to the prime broker reasoning that it would still be quicker than “the way of the turtle.”
I would post but AQR has hired the wife of a CNH partner (hint – she’s Kate Gosselin but angrier ’cause her dick is smaller) to chew on the nut sac of anyone posting to DB. Oh no – she’s marching towards me…
53, if you still work at AQR then you obviously are a C player.
Drop the complaints, work hard, take your 30,000 bonus next january and go back to school.
Do these two big swinging dick traders have PH.D?
You want to play games, my droogs?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v90KPJ6n4Ew
Is this picture taken in the executive washroom at AQR when Biff wanted to show the fire he has inside to the journalist???
this dude is one ugly jbag
54 – 53 here. Do you really think they’ll pay as much as 30M? That would be awesome! 30 and free danishes – I am golden…
Bess, you had me at hello. Nonetheless when Biff has/had the assistant/ho-alot – - it seemed rather improper to sound CT
Attacking people after they have left the firm on DB… classy, Biff, very classy… just a little passive-aggressive, aren’t we… “relatively minor position, commensurate with his experience”… at least this time around you are not writing your missives in the comments section and calling the editor names…did you burn your fat fingers the first time around, Biff?
~not related to AQR
here’s the partner list with photos- turth be told, they have some pretty sick grad degrees and employers on their resumes-
http://www.aqrfunds.com/About_AQR/Our_People/Content/default.fs
here’s the partner list with photos- truth be told, they have some pretty sick grad degrees and employers on their resumes-
http://www.aqrfunds.com/About_AQR/Our_People/Content/default.fs
who the fuck rocks a fatass goatee in Finance? Its one thing to rock a beard, or fuck, even a Quattrone-esque ‘stash, but Asness looks like he could be one of the guys from “Ice Road Truckers” with a little wardrobe and rouge
Bob has been dropped from the AQR website? What happened? He is the smartest guy they have!
@62, what are you talking about? their degrees are about hedge fund average. and they all worked at GSAM. overall solid but not “sick.”
none of those guys has an impressive track record built outside AQR. And the track record they compiled at AQR is nothing to brag about.
@1 Weishar hasn’t left. Spoke with him today dipshit
Great job on forcing AQR to comment Bess. It was a funny story.
@59, 30k not 30mm
take last year’s number and cut that by 70-90%. They have to pay out the new phd’s
“He did not select bonds, value or manage them.”
thats not what he said at the interview
Those that can – do. Those that can’t – teach. Those that can’t get out of their own way – AQR.
Update: According to a covert spokesperson for AQR. The individual was ‘head of nothing’ but rather dinner manager. Contrary to what you’ve written, he has nothing to do with our high frequency trading (although he spent last two years shepherding another useless “trader” to code ultra-secret high frequency strategies). He held a relatively minor position, which involved going for broker’s dinners, free concerts and US Open matches, and his new position outside the firm should build on this experience. We wish his new employer good luck! We did not fight with him on his non-compete, despite what you wrote. We feared he might decide to stay back. As concerns the alleged ‘head convert trader’ – that, too overstates his role, which was execution only. He did not select bonds, value or manage them.
AQR what a classact.
Any pension fund that still has money with these nutjobs should be sued for breach of fiduciary duties.
Goldman pulled their retirement account from these losers in early 2008. Those guys are GOOD
“He did not select bonds, value or manage them.”
That is right and neither do those professors. AQR’s convertible model is simple – buy every convertible bond out there and delta hedge. I am not kidding. This is all laid out in the professors’ published papers. They literally buy every CB they can afford to buy and delta hedge. There is no brain behind it. But then given AQR’s investing skill it’s probably a good thing they keep that shit simple.
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