, Columnist
Hedge Funds: Rise of the Machines
Titans of the industry are giving way to passive and machine-driven vehicles, but the investment strategies aren't all that different.
This article is for subscribers only.
The future of hedge funds is starting to look like there will be fewer managers. That doesn't mean there will be fewer funds.
Traditional long-short hedge funds and their managers have recently felt like an endangered species, with many giving up after finding it increasingly hard to turn a profit, as Bloomberg News detailed Tuesday. The latest to throw in the towel is John Burbank, who hit it big after the financial crisis, but this week announced he was shutting his hedge fund Passport Capital. After two years of poor returns, recently from investments in Saudi Arabia, Burbank said he needed to rethink how he invests. He may launch a bitcoin fund.