Julian Hart Robertson Jr. (June 25, 1932 – August 23, 2022) was an American

hedge fund A hedge fund is a Pooling (resource management), pooled investment fund that holds Market liquidity, liquid assets and that makes use of complex trader (finance), trading and risk management techniques to aim to improve investment performance and ...

manager, and philanthropist. Robertson founded Tiger Management, one of the first hedge funds, in 1980. From its inception in 1980 to its 1998 asset peak, his fund returned 31.7% per year after fees, compared to a 12.7% annual return from the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

over the same period. However, a sharp decline thereafter led to the fund closing in March 2000. Tiger showed losses in only four of its 21 years. Robertson later mentored and provided seed funding to many notable hedge fund managers, known as the ''Tiger cubs'', including Ole Andreas Halvorsen, Stephen Mandel of Lone Pine Capital, Lee Ainslie of Maverick Capital, Bill Hwang, and Chase Coleman III. During his lifetime, Robertson contributed more than US$2 billion to charity. He was also a signatory to The Giving Pledge. At the time of his death, his net worth was estimated at $4.8 billion.

Early life

Robertson was born on June 25, 1932, in

Salisbury, North Carolina Salisbury ( ) is a city in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region of North Carolina, United States; it has been the county seat of Rowan County, North Carolina, Rowan County since 1753 when its territory extended to the Mississippi River. ...

, as the son of Julian Hart Robertson Sr., a textile company executive, and Blanche Spencer, a local activist. He claimed that his father was a descendant of

Pocahontas Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, also known as Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe; 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. S ...

. Robertson first became interested in stocks at age 6. He graduated from Episcopal High School in 1951 and the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

in 1955. While at Chapel Hill, he was admitted to Zeta Psi fraternity and was a member of the

Reserve Officers' Training Corps The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC; or ) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. While ROTC graduate officers serve in all branches o ...

. He then served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, traveling the world aboard a munitions ship until 1957. After leaving the navy, Robertson moved to New York City and worked for a time as a stockbroker for

Kidder, Peabody & Company Kidder, Peabody & Co. was an American securities firm, established in Massachusetts in 1865. The firm's operations included investment banking, brokerage, and trading. The firm was sold to General Electric in 1986. Following heavy losses, it was ...

. At Kidder, he eventually headed the firm's asset management division, Webster Securities. In 1978, he took a

sabbatical A sabbatical (from the Hebrew: (i.e., Sabbath); in Latin ; Greek: ) is a rest or break from work; "an extended period of time intentionally spent on something that’s not your routine job." The concept of the sabbatical is based on the Bi ...

and moved with his family to New Zealand for a year to write a novel.

Investment career

On his return to the United States, in 1980, with $8 million of funding from family, friends, and his own wealth, he founded Tiger Management. The Tiger funds reached a peak of $22 billion in assets in 1998. Robertson's Tiger Fund accurately predicted the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (or dot-com boom) was a stock market bubble that ballooned during the late-1990s and peaked on Friday, March 10, 2000. This period of market growth coincided with the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web and the Interne ...

, purposely underweighting the technology sector. Tiger's largest holding was

US Airways US Airways was a major airline in the United States. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called All American Aviation, which soon became a commercial passenger airline. In 1953, it ...

; it controlled 25% of the company. Its troubles led to significant losses for the fund. Tiger also realized significant losses in the

Japanese Yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Th ...

. Such missteps ultimately led him to close his investment company in late March 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble, and return all outside capital to investors. Revolting employees wanting to invest in the dot-com bubble are also cited as the reason behind closing. Robertson said in 2008 that he shorted subprime securities and used credit default swaps to make a 76.7% return on investment in 2007. From the closure of his fund in 2000 until January 2008, his return on his personal fortune was 403%. After closing his fund in 2000, Robertson supported and financed upcoming hedge fund managers in return for a stake in their fund management companies. Robertson was an investor and developer in New Zealand and owned three lodges: Kauri Cliffs Lodge near Matauri Bay in Northland; Matakauri Lodge Queenstown; and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers, Hawkes Bay, as well as several wineries.

Personal life

Family

Julian married Josephine Tucker Robertson in 1972. She died in June 2010 from

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

. They had three children.

Politics

While Robertson was a Republican, he urged the party to support

clean energy Energy is sustainable if it "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Definitions of sustainable energy usually look at its effects on the environment, the economy, and s ...

policies and contributed $500,000 to the ClearPath Foundation in 2016. Robertson supported the

Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign The 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney officially began on June 2, 2011, when former Governor of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney formally announced his candidacy for the Republican Party (United States), Republican Part ...

, and Romney attended Robertson's 80th birthday party in 2012. In January 2012, Robertson donated $1.25 million to Restore Our Future, a Super PAC supporting the

. In 2015, Robertson gave $1 million to a Super PAC supporting the Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign. Although Robertson did not support

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

in the 2016 election, instead supporting libertarian

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

, Robertson was a supporter of the presidency of Donald Trump and the

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs ...

. He contributed $100,000 to

's 2020 presidential campaign. Robertson supported the

estate tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pr ...

Residences

Robertson owned residences on Central Park South in Manhattan, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

in Nassau County, as well as in Sun Valley,

the Hamptons The Hamptons, part of the East End (Long Island), East End of Long Island, consist of the town (New York), towns of Southampton (town), New York, Southampton and East Hampton (town), New York, East Hampton, which together compose the South Fork ...

, and in New Zealand. In 2020, Robertson completed construction of three new homes, each approximately 4,000 square feet, for his family in New Zealand. Robertson kept track of where he spent his time and won a legal case after he proved that he did not spend enough time in New York to be liable for income taxes in the state.

Death

Robertson died at his home in Manhattan on August 23, 2022, aged 90.

Legacy and awards

In 2008, he was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame. Robertson was appointed an Honorary Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to business and philanthropy, in the 2010 New Year Honours, and in 2017, he was one of nine people awarded a Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.

Legal issues

On April 1, 1996, ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' carried a cover story written by reporter Gary Weiss, called "Fall of the Wizard", that was critical of Robertson's performance and behavior as founder and manager of Tiger Management. Robertson subsequently sued Weiss and ''BusinessWeek'' for $1 billion for

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

. The suit was

settled A settler or a colonist is a person who establishes or joins a permanent presence that is separate to existing communities. The entity that a settler establishes is a settlement. A settler is called a pioneer if they are among the first settli ...

with no money changing hands and ''BusinessWeek'' standing by the substance of its reporting.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Julian 1932 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American philanthropists American billionaires American financial analysts American hedge fund managers American investors American money managers American stockbrokers American stock traders Businesspeople from New York (state) Businesspeople from North Carolina Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia) alumni Honorary Knights Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Military personnel from North Carolina New York (state) Republicans People from Salisbury, North Carolina Stock and commodity market managers Tiger Management University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni People associated with the Auckland Art Gallery