Naturally, Fox Business’s Senior Steakhouse Correspondent is on it: Continue reading »
hedge fund managers
Charlie Gasparino: Steve Cohen Broke Bread With Chris Christie At Quality Meats Last Night
By Bess Levin
When you’re hedge fund manager who not too long go scored returns of 590 percent and a personal payday of $3.5 billion in a single year, losing 50 percent while being forced to live off management fees can take a toll on the ego. You start questioning every move. You become plagued by self-doubt. You stop posing for photoshoots with your eyes closed and your collar up. You probably even remain silent during earnings calls, no matter how big your position in the company, for fear of people snickering and asking each other “Why is he still here?” or whispering “Two words: fake trees.” It’s a dark, deeply depressing time, one that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemies. Then you return 5 percent in a single month and BOOM! It is GAME ON. John Paulson, who seems to have regained his sea legs in time for a Q&A with Hartford Financial CEO Liam McGee this morning, knows what we’re talking about.
The short version (with regard to McGee’s apparent inability to give Paulson an answer as to what, exactly, he intends to do about the company’s stock slide): “What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it, asshole? You’re fucking shit. Where did you learn your trade, you stupid fucking cunt, you idiot? Who ever told you that you could work with men? Oh, I’m gonna have your job, shithead.” The slightly longer version:
Continue reading »
January performance. Continue reading »
Confidential To Bud Selig: Watch Your Mouth Or He’ll Buy The Whole Fucking National League
By Bess Levin
Steven Cohen may yet own the Los Angeles Dodgers. But he still hasn’t given up hope of buying a chunk of his favorite baseball team. The SAC Capital Advisors founder is expected to buy one of the 4% stakes in the New York Mets currently on offer. The Mets plan to sell 10 such stakes—although the team’s current owners plan to buy at least two of the slices—to raise $200 million in an effort to pay down the team’s huge debt, while simultaneously allowing Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to maintain control of the team…Buying the Mets stake would not keep Cohen from buying the Dodgers—although if he wins the latter, he’d have to sell the Mets share. That could make him a very short-lived Mets owner, as Dodgers owner Frank McCourt is expected to pick his successor by April 1. [FINalternatives]
January performance. Continue reading »
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I will sell this house today
Bill Ackman Would Love For You To Get Bullish On Housing
By Bess Levin
“How does Bill Ackman do it” is a question the investing community surely asks itself on a daily basis. Three words: Berkshire Mountains hideaway. Outsiders may figure in-depth research combined with skillful and ethical activism and a highly concentrated portfolio are the keys to Pershing Square’s success but, really, a 100-acre spread in upstate New York is the engine that drives this firm.
Specifically, the one found in Chatham, New York, that Ackman “scraped together the money” to buy in 2003, just months before his second act hedge fund launched, to arguably more success than its predecessor, Gotham Partners. Coincidence? Bill doesn’t think so. “This place has really good investing karma,” Ackman tells us. (Since buying the house, Pershing has had 21 percent compound returns. You do the math.) Is this information relevant in any way to your universe? If you’ve got $5 million to spare, a yen for sweeping views of the Berkshire mountains, and a desire to pump up lackluster returns it might be.
Despite spending many a happy (and profitable) weekend at the place over the last nine years, Ackman has with great reluctance and probably more than a few tears decided to put it on the market, having precious little time to make the (quick and painless!) trip up now that his three children have many an extracurricular commitment to tend to. According to Bill, he’s offering you “the deal of a lifetime” (and, in our professional opinions, we agree), when you consider 1) what he bought it for ($3.2 million, then put another $1.5 million in) and 2) what you’re getting. Things like: Continue reading »
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Hedge Funds
Steve: Remember That Not Getting An MLB Team Can Sometimes Be A Wonderful Stroke Of Luck
By Bess Levin
Over the weekend, the LA Times reported that a group headed by Steve Cohen was among those that advanced to the second round of bidding for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mark Cuban, “veteran baseball executive” Dennis Gilbert, and former Dodgers players Steve Garvey and Orel Hershiser are out; at the top of Cohen’s elimination list remain Magic Johnson and Joe Torre. Obviously, we have no idea whether or not the SAC Capital manager will emerge victorious. Either way, though, something about all this has been troubling us: namely how acquiring a baseball team figures into SC’s long-term plans. Continue reading »
George Soros Is Not Here To Make You Feel Warm And Toasty Inside! George Soros Is Not Here To Tuck You In At Night!
By Bess Levin
George Soros is here to tell you a bedtime story about what happens to little boys and girls who don’t listen to every damn word he has to say! Continue reading »
Raj Rajaratnam, the former hedge- fund manager serving an 11-year prison sentence for insider trading, can have his passport back, along with the title to his $17.5 million Manhattan apartment and $2.5 million in cash. [Bloomberg]
