Dec 23, 2019
For the quant community, it was arguably the most awaited book of 2019. Finally, a peek behind the curtains into the most successful hedge fund manager in history.
The +66% average (gross) returns that Jim Simons and his army of data scientists produced over the last 17 years in their Medallion fund captured the imagination of investors across the globe and their obsessive secrecy just added to the aura of mystique. After much resistance from the protagonists (not least of which Simons himself), our guest today was able to pierce that bubble and tell the story of Renaissance Technologies.
A 20 year veteran of The Wall Street Journal, Gregory Zuckerman has authored best sellers such as "The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionaire Wildcatters", "The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History", and co-authored the award-winning "Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges in their Youth to Become Stars" with his two sons.
Our 30-minute conversation with Zuckerman tracks a different course from his recent interviews, focusing on how the journey to write this book has changed his understanding of the asset management industry and how his relationship with some of the characters has evolved.
But most importantly, we discuss a topic that has been at the core of ReSolve's philosophy from the early years: the idea of harvesting sustainable edges from group relationships as opposed to individual trades or securities. Waste no time and dive right into the latest episode of Gestalt University.