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| 12. Daniel Loeb / $260 million | ||
| Title: Founder and chief executive officerFirm: Third Point (New York)Age: 552016 Rank: No. 122016 Earnings: $260 million2015 Rank: Did not qualifyYears on list: 8 | Source of 2016 earnings: Corporate credit (energy), Argentinean sovereign credit, risk arbitrage, equity positions in Baxter, Dow, and Sotheby’sEducation: BA in economics, Columbia University, 1984 | |
Dan Loeb returns to the Rich List after a one-year hiatus, but the sometime activist, whose event-driven firm also heavily invests in credit, was not happy with his performance last year. In its fourth-quarter letter to clients, Loeb’s firm, Third Point, called its 6.1 percent gain for the year in the Third Point Offshore Investors disappointing given that it was “properly positioned for two of the three significant macro turns last year.” The firm said corporate and sovereign credit “outperformed meaningfully,” while its equity portfolio underperformed, primarily because of losses in Allergan and Amgen, weak performance among its technology investments, and “lackluster performance” in structured credit. Third Point also suffered sizable losses from its short bets. Firmwide assets slipped to $15 billion from $16.3 billion the previous year.
Drilling down into the portfolio, Third Point made money in corporate credit thanks to its long energy trade, Argentinean sovereign credit investments, risk arbitrage, and what it calls constructive positions in Baxter International, Dow Chemical Co., and Sotheby’s International Realty. Third Point said its hedges detracted moderately and structured credit was roughly flat.
In its third-quarter letter, Third Point lamented that our democracy has been “meaningfully disrupted,” noting that “social media, primary processes built for the pre-internet era, and illegal foreign cyber-attacks have changed the trajectory of our political system.” But these days Loeb appears to be all-in for Trump: Third Point told investors in its fourth-quarter letter that the day after the election it boosted positions in banks and other investments that benefit from rising interest rates. In its first-quarter 2017 letter, Third Point explained to clients why it’s suddenly more bullish: “Animal spirits matter in markets and despite the obstacles that the new administration will face in passing legislation, the overall pro-business environment is in sharp contrast to the last ‘you didn’t build it’ administration’s attitude towards business, enterprise, and free markets.”
When he’s not managing money, Loeb is a major supporter of charter schools and actively involved in protecting LGBT rights. He established the Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease at the Mount Sinai Health System in memory of his late father.
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