By Rob Miller | Portfolio Manager at NAOS Asset Management

Capital Allocators Podcast by Ted Seides

Gregory Zuckerman is a critically acclaimed financial journalist who has had a long career writing for the Wall Street Journal. He is the author of a recently released book called ‘The Man Who Solved The Market – How Jim Simons Launched The Quant Revolution’. In this podcast interview Zuckerman discusses his book on Jim Simons and Renaissance Technologies.

Renaissance Technologies is a US hedge fund founded by Jim Simons in 1982. Prior to its establishment, Jim Simons was not only a brilliant mathematician but also a code breaker in the Cold War. Renaissance Technologies was established to be a multi asset class quantitative operation, which ventured into equities in 1988 with the establishment of the flagship Renaissance Medallion Fund.

The Renaissance Medallion Fund is arguably the most successful hedge fund of all time having returned approx. 70% p.a. gross of fees since inception. Capacity has been capped for a long time and funds are regularly returned to those lucky enough to be unitholders. The fund also charges a 5% management fee and 44% performance fee.

Renaissance Technologies is known for being a very secretive operation. Zuckerman provides, for the first time, insights into the history and culture of Renaissance Technologies, paints a picture of the man behind it all, and digs into the Renaissance quantitative process which has worked incredibly well over a long period of time.

Listen to the podcast