In this article, we discuss the 11 youngest hedge fund billionaires and their top stock picks. To skip the detailed analysis of the hedge fund industry and its performance, go directly to the 5 Youngest Hedge Fund Billionaires and Their Top Stock Picks.
Hedge funds are exclusive investment pools that attract high to ultra-high-net-worth individuals. The best-performing funds are run by people who can be considered financial maestros. They employ complex strategies and tactics to maximize returns and manage risks in ways that go beyond traditional investment avenues. By the end of 2023, the hedge fund industry is expected to reach a record $5 trillion in assets under management. Additionally, Goldman Sachs predicts that hedge funds will outperform 60/40 portfolios in 2023.
Our previous report reveals that there are over 30,000 hedge funds, and 65% of them are US-based. One example of complex and unique strategies that hedge funds employ can be taken from D E Shaw. According to the firm, it employs mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, economists, analysts, business-builders, and system architects, who work together to “share trade ideas, identify and address risks, build tools, and explore new opportunities.” While the S&P 500 and NASDAQ were getting beat down heavily in 2022 due to rising inflation and interest rates, D E Shaw returned around $8 billion to its clients. Its returns were only second to Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group, which returned a whopping $16 billion.
Hedge funds have been known to find opportunities that normal investors miss during tough economic conditions. Louis Bacon, one of the macro trading legends, predicted the 1987 market crash and returned nearly 86% in the first year of his hedge fund’s inception. Furthermore, some of these investment wizards predicted the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 and made big bucks by betting against subprime mortgages through credit default swaps. John Paulson of Paulson & Co. and the “Big Short” investor Michael Burry were some of the most prominent names that surfaced during the housing crisis. Paulson managed to generate around $15 billion for investors, while Burry made a personal profit of $100 million and generated $700 million for his investors.
Hedge Funds’ Bets
The technology sector experienced massive gains, and billionaire hedge fund managers didn’t shy away from investing as much as they could in the sector in 2023. According to our proprietary data that tracks 910 hedge funds, the firms were loading up on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in Q3. These five stocks had the highest hedge fund sentiment in the quarter, and the total hedge fund investments in these stocks increased by nearly $23.21 billion. Over the year, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) saw the biggest surge of hedge fund investors as 89 hedge funds had a stake in the company in Q3 2022, and by Q3 2023, the number went up to 180 hedge funds.
While tech stocks have experienced massive gains in the first nine months of 2023, there are still experts out there who are a bit skeptical about such growth and expect corrections in the tech sector.
The energy sector underperformed in the first half of 2023 but was the best-performing sector in the third quarter due to production cuts by OPEC and Russia and geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund was down over 3.8% in the first half and gained 11.36% in the third quarter. Several hedge funds took advantage of the gains. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE:OXY), and Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) saw a significant rise in total hedge fund investments in Q3. Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE:PXD) was also one of the top gainers of the S&P 500 through the quarter.
In the third quarter, some of the stocks that were seen commonly in young billionaire hedge fund managers’ portfolios included Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).
We have also covered the best stock picks of other hedge fund billionaires extensively. You can check out Billionaire Lee Cooperman’s 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential, Billionaire Gabelli’s 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential, and Billionaire David Einhorn’s 10 Stock Picks with Huge Upside Potential.
Honorable Mention
The hedge fund billionaires in our article are the ones who are currently managing an investment portfolio. However, the list of the youngest hedge fund billionaires would be incomplete without John Douglas Arnold. He isn’t on our list because Arnold closed his hedge fund in 2012 and no longer has a publicly available investment portfolio. John Arnold is almost 49 years old now and has a net worth of $3.3 billion. He established his hedge fund, Centaurus Advisors, in 2002 and by 2007, he became the youngest billionaire in the United States.
Since closing down his hedge fund, John Arnold mostly focuses on his philanthropic ventures along with his wife, Laura Muñoz.
Our Methodology
For this article, we selected the 11 youngest billionaire hedge fund managers after scouring through Forbes’ list of billionaires. The names were listed in descending order of age as of December 5.
Youngest Hedge Fund Billionaires and Their Top Stock Picks
11. Rajiv Jain
Age: 55
Net Worth as of December 5: $3.2 billion
Top Stock Pick: NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
Rajiv Jain is the founder, chairman, and CIO of GQG Partners. He was born in India and moved to the United States for his MBA, which he received from the University of Miami. He started his investment career with Vontobel Asset Management in 1994, where he was the co-portfolio manager. Jain later became the co-CEO of the firm before leaving it in 2016 to establish his hedge fund. GQG Partners has offices in three continents and manages over $105 billion worth of assets.
In the third quarter of 2023, Rajiv Jain’s 13F portfolio was worth $43.2 billion and a majority of it was covered by technology stocks. NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) was his top pick in Q3. GQG Partners owned 14.039 million shares of the company, valued at over $6.1 billion. The firm was also the most prominent investor of NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) in the quarter.
NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) were among the top 5 stock picks of Rajiv Jain’s GQG Partners.
10. Michael Platt
Age: 55
Net Worth as of December 5: $16 billion
Top Stock Pick: Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO)
Michael Platt is a British financier and a hedge fund manager. He is the co-founder and managing director of BlueCrest Capital Management. Platt closed his hedge fund to outside investors in December 2015 and turned it into a private investment partnership. Since then, his firm has shown some remarkable performance. In 2016 and 2017, BlueCrest generated 50% and 54% returns, respectively. On top of that, the firm returned 95% in 2020 and over 150% in 2022.
The advertising firm Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO) was Michael Platt’s top stock pick in the third quarter. The company covered nearly 3% of his firm with 2.26 million shares worth nearly $66 million.
9. Ken Griffin
Age: 54
Net Worth as of December 5: $36.1 billion
Top Stock Pick: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group was the top-performing hedge fund of 2022 after generating $16 billion. Griffin has been a successful investor since a young age. He began trading from his dorm at Harvard and made a $5000 profit on his trade. Ken Griffin is the richest hedge fund manager on our list of youngest hedge fund billionaires. His net worth almost tripled over the last three years and went from being worth $12 billion in 2020 to $36 billion in 2023.
In Q3, Ken Griffin’s top stock pick was Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). He increased his holdings in the company by 48% to over 5 million shares worth $1.59 billion.
8. Larry Robbins
Age: 53
Net Worth as of December 5: $1.9 billion
Top Stock Pick: Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC)
Larry Robbins is the CEO and founder of New York-based Glenview Capital Management, which was started in 2000. Robbins is a University of Pennsylvania graduate where he received his BS in Economics and Engineering. Robbins’ investment philosophy is somewhat similar to Warren Buffett and Seth Klarman and utilizes a value investing strategy.
In the third quarter, Glenview Capital’s portfolio had a value of $4.41 billion. Tenet Healthcare Corporation (NYSE:THC) was Robbins’ top pick in the quarter, with 6.865 million shares worth $452.344 million, representing 10.24% of the investment portfolio. Glenview Capital was also the most significant shareholder of the company in Q3.
7. John Overdeck
Age: 53
Net Worth as of December 5: $7.3 billion
Top Stock Pick: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)
John Overdeck is the co-chairman and co-founder of Two Sigma Advisors. Son of a retired senior mathematician, Overdeck became an International Mathematics Olympiad silver medalist between the ages of 16 and 17. He pursued a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s degree in statistics, both from Stanford University.
Two Sigma Advisors has around $60 billion in assets under management and has offices in the U.S., Asia Pacific, and Europe. In Q3, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the top stock pick of Two Sigma Advisors, with 6.409 million shares worth $1.097 billion. Moreover, in the quarter, the fund was highly bullish on Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Tesla, Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), and Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY) and increased its stake by 333%, 1856%, and 1200%, respectively.
6. Christopher Rokos
Age: 53
Net Worth as of December 5: $1.5 billion
Top Stock Pick: Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Christopher Rokos is the founder and chief investment officer of Rokos Capital Management and one of the former founding partners of Brevan Howard Asset Management. Rokos earned his bachelor’s degree from Pembroke College, Oxford University, and went on to receive an MA in Mathematics from the same institution. Initially working at UBS Group AG, Rokos soon moved on to The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS). From there, Rokos went on to Credit Suisse and left it after four years to establish Brevan Howard Asset Management with four other directors of Credit Suisse.
Rokos Capital has four offices and seven asset classes and classifies itself as a “global alternative investment fund manager”. The fund’s 13F portfolio was valued at nearly $13.77 billion in Q3. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was the top stock pick of Chris Rokos in the third quarter.
While Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was Rokos’ top pick, unlike many other billionaire hedge fund managers, he had no stake in Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA).
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Disclosure. None. 11 Youngest Hedge Fund Billionaires and Their Top Stock Picks is originally published on Insider Monkey.