Who are ten youngest hedge fund billionaires? Barriers to entry in the hedge fund market are much greater than they were just a decade ago. If you’re a hedge fund fanatic, you must already know David Einhorn had an initial investment of under a million dollars (with a partner!) and look where he is now. Some of the folks below got much more seed money than that, having paid their dues in powerhouses like Goldman Sachs.
If I could figure out how to be a billionaire today I’d give up 10 years of my life. Here’s a list of folks who either were totally unfairly lucky to have been handed that badge of billionaire honor or who actually just guessed how to do it. In case you happen to run into one of them one day, here’s a brief introduction in case you’re able to finagle them into giving you some of their fortune, or better yet, teaching you how to do it.
10. Daniel Och
Age: 53
Net Worth: $3.2 billion
Total amount of assets: $26.9 billion
At 53 Daniel Och is still one of the 10 youngest hedge fund billionaires in the world. He is the founder, chairman and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of an international hedge fund named ‘Och-Ziff Capital Management Group’. After a stint at Goldman Sachs, Och got a seed investment of $100 Million from the Ziff brothers, sons of publishing magnate William Bernard Ziff.
Age: 52
Net Worth: $3.0 billion
Total amount of assets: $12.3 billion
O f course he orchestrated his own release – he’s a billionaire. More famous for convincing his kidnappers to free him, Edward S. Lampert is also the chairman of ‘Sears Holdings (SHLD)’ and the founder, chairman and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of ‘ESL Investments’.
Age: 51
Net Worth: $2.0 billion
Total amount of assets: $2.6 billion
Rarely photographed Noam Gottesman holds citizenship in America and Israel. He left Goldman Sachs in 1995 to found GLG Partners, which went public 22 years later. He sold a nearly 15,000 sqft home in London to Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal for nearly $200 Million. Then he bought an ice factory in downtown Manhattan for $34 Million and converted it into a 12,000 sqft home. He likes art, holds investments in Eleven Madison Park, Moda Operandi and 300 Entertainment.
Age: 47
Net Worth: $1.2 billion
Total amount of assets: $11.0 billion
Now perhaps known greatest as the hedge fund guy who has issues with Herbalife, William Ackman is founder and CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of Pershing Square Capital Management. He’s an active investor. He’s also very active in philanthropy. Organizations to which he’s made donations include Signature Theater, Human Rights Watch (to which his wife, Karen Ann Herskovitz, is a trustee), One Acre Fund, and Social Finance. He’s also signed The Giving Pledge, committing himself to give away at least 50% of his wealth to charity.
Age: 46
Net Worth: $1.6 billion
Total amount of assets: $17.6 billion
Joshua S. Friedman started Canyon Partners with another former Drexel Burnham trader, Mitchell Julis in 1990. Friedman went to Drexel after a stint at, you guessed it, Goldman Sachs. Canyon Partners is an employee-owned hedge fund, which follows the multi-strategy investment policies.
5. Ken Griffin
Age: 45
Net Worth: $3.0 billion
Total amount of assets: $20 billion
The guy who installed a satellite dish in his dorm at Harvard so he could get a leg up on his investing now has a personal fortune of about $5.5 Billion. Griffin recently “blindsided” his wife by filing for divorce. She’s amassed a personal fortune in wealth and reputation as well, and together they apparently climbed as high as possible within the Chicago social circle. They bought art and made extraordinary donations. Their prenup stated that in the case of a divorce she gets the cash and he gets the art and real estate, but we’ll have to wait and see how these two hedge fund titans finagle things.
Age: 45
Net Worth: $2 billion
Total amount of assets: $10 billion
The darling of the hedge fund world. It’s hard not to like this guy. He comes from a good family in the midwest. He started out young, with a modest investment ($900K) from his and his partner’s parents, and he’s an utter joy to be around in real life. He is a hotshot but he behaves like he’s not. He’s generated a 20% annualized return for his investors, is keen on announcing his short views on a podium (Lehman) and he has no shame in showing his love for the Mets. At one point he was set to buy a minority share but the deal fell through.
3. Daniel Ziff
Age: 41
Net Worth: $4.8 billion
Total amount of assets: $8.8 billion
Daniel Ziff is the youngest son of late William B Ziff Sr., who was the owner of the Ziff-Davis Inc., an American publishing company which was later sold out. Daniel and his two brothers reinvested that money in their hedge fund, ‘Ziff Brothers Investments’. Ziff went to Trinity in New York City then got a BA from nearby Columbia. The name may sound familiar, as the elder Ziff also invested in Daniel Och, number #10 on our list.
Age: 40
Net Worth: $3.3 billion
Total amount of assets: $5.0 billion
THis guy is really young. He grew up in Houston and graduated from Vanderbilt with concentrations in math and economics. He made about 3/4 of a billion dollars for Enron and got an $8 M bonus check, with which he created Centaurus Advisors. He has also signed the Giving Pledge. He retired in 2012.
Age: 38
Net Worth: $1.4 billion
Total amount of assets: $15.8 billion