DDaniel Loeb (December 18, 1961) is an activist investor hedge fund manager and the founder and chief executive of Third Point, a New York-based hedge fund with $10.8 billion in assets under management, as of March 2016.
Daniel Loeb was born to a Jewish family, the son of Ronald and Clare (née Spark) Loeb was raised in Santa Monica, California where he attended Palisades Charter High School.
His father was a partner at the Los Angeles law firm of Irell & Manella LLP and general counsel for Williams-Sonoma. His father also served as an outside director of Mattel, Inc. for over 30 years and during one period became interim President of Mattel. His mother is a historian.
Daniel Loeb attended the University of California at Berkeley for two years and graduated from Columbia University with an economics degree.
While at Columbia he had made $120,000 in the stock market but lost the entire amount on an investment in a firm called Puritan-Bennett Inc. That taught him a valuable early lesson, in “over concentrating positions”.
From 1984 to 1987, Loeb worked at private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
He then worked as director of corporate development at Island Records, a record label, where he focused on securing debt financing.
After Island Records, Daniel Loeb worked as a risk arbitrage analyst at Lafer Equity Investors and then, from 1991 to 1994, as senior vice-president in the distressed debt department at Jefferies LLC. At Jefferies, he focused on bankruptcy analysis, trading bank loans and selling distressed securities.
He becames a Citigroup vice president from 1994–95, in charge of high-yield bond sales.
Under Daniel Loeb’s management, Third Point Management’s annualized returns since inception (Dec. 1996 – Dec. 2015) total approximately +16.2% In 2012, the firm returned +21.2%, outperforming the S&P 500’s return of +16.0% and making it one of best-performing hedge funds that year.
In 2013 Daniel Loeb appeared on Forbes’ list of the world’s 40 richest hedge-fund managers and traders.
While at Columbia he had made $120,000 in the stock market but then lost the entire amount… that taught him a valuable early lesson in “over concentrating positions”
INVESTMENT STYLE
Daniel Loeb’s “preferred strategy” is to buy into troubled companies, replace inefficient management, and return the companies to profitability, which “is the key to his success,” according to New York magazine. In other words, Loeb is an activist investor.
In response to a UK fund manager who spoke about “one’s place in society.” Loeb’s reply sums up what could be America’s secret ingredient and why betting against it is a loser’s game.
At Third Point, Daniel Loeb explained, ‘one’s place in society’ does not matter at all. We are a bunch of scrappy guys from diverse backgrounds (Jewish, Muslim, Hindu etc) who enjoy outwitting pompous asses like yourself in financial markets globally.”
One’s place in society does not matter at all. We are a bunch of scrappy guys from diverse backgrounds who enjoy outwitting pompous asses like yourself in financial markets globally – Daniel Loeb
LEARNING RESOURCES
Daniel Loeb’s news letter writing often provides traders with a heads up on stock movers.
Daniel Loeb is well known in Hedgeworld for his attacks on what he views as greedy execs who also happen to be depressing shareholder value. Of shares he owns.
“The moral-indignation business”, Loeb sometimes calls it. “Hedge-fund guys love to read Loeb’s attacks; ‘he articulates what people feel’, says one.”
The moral-indignation business (his view on greedy execs) – Daniel Loeb
CONNECT WITH INVESTOR
Follow this World Top Investor via their various social media channels and read more about their background and current investment interests on their official website:
Daniel Loeb
www.thirdpoint.com
