John William Meriwether (born August 10, 1947) is an
American hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as ...
executive.
Education
Meriwether earned an undergraduate degree from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Chart ...
and an
MBA degree from the
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Chicago Booth or Booth) is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 N ...
.
Salomon Brothers
After graduation, Meriwether moved to New York City, where he worked as a
bond trader at
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street duri ...
. At Salomon, Meriwether rose to become the head of the domestic
fixed income arbitrage group in the early 1980s and vice-chairman of the company in 1988. In 1991, Salomon was caught in a
Treasury securities
United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as an alternative to taxation. Since 2012, U.S. go ...
trading scandal perpetrated by a Meriwether subordinate, Paul Mozer. Meriwether was assessed $50,000 in civil penalties.
LTCM
Meriwether founded the
Long-Term Capital Management
Long-Term Capital Management L.P. (LTCM) was a highly-leveraged hedge fund. In 1998, it received a $3.6 billion bailout from a group of 14 banks, in a deal brokered and put together by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
LTCM was founded in ...
hedge fund
A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as ...
in
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...
in 1994. Long-Term Capital Management collapsed in 1998. The books ''
When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management'' and ''Inventing Money: The Story of Long-Term Capital Management and the Legends Behind It'' detail the events leading up to and following Long-Term Capital Management's demise.
JWM Partners
A year after LTCM's collapse, in 1999, Meriwether founded
JWM Partners LLC. The
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...
hedge fund opened with $250 million under management in 1999 and by 2007 had approximately $3 billion. The
Financial crisis of 2007-2009
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of ...
badly battered Meriwether's firm. From September 2007 to February 2009, his main fund lost 44 percent. On July 8, 2009, Meriwether closed the fund.
JM Advisors
Meriwether opened his third hedge fund venture, named JM Advisors Management, also based in
Greenwich, Connecticut
Greenwich (, ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast (Conne ...
, in 2010. The fund is expected to use similar strategies as both LTCM and JWM, namely highly leveraged "relative value arbitrage". By March 2011, however, the JM Advisors Macro Fund had raised only $28.85 million. As of 2011 it managed roughly $108.85 million.
Thoroughbred racing
Meriwether has been an owner of
thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
horses for a number of years and is a member of the
board of directors of the
New York Racing Association
The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) is the not-for-profit corporation that operates the three largest Thoroughbred horse racing tracks in the state of New York (state), New York, United States: Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, Quee ...
(NYRA). He notably campaigned Buckhan, the winner of the 1993
Washington, D.C. International Stakes.
John Meriwether, Richard Leahy - NTRA
See also
* List of trading losses
The following contains a list of trading losses of the equivalent of USD100 million or higher. Trading losses are the amount of principal losses in an account. Because of the secretive nature of many hedge funds and fund managers, some notable los ...
* ''Liar's Poker
''Liar's Poker'' is a non-fiction, semi- autobiographical book by Michael Lewis describing the author's experiences as a bond salesman on Wall Street during the late 1980s. First published in 1989, it is considered one of the books that defined ...
''
* '' When Genius Failed''
* Black swan problem
References
Further reading
*
*
*
External links
Case Study: Long-Term Capital Management
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meriwether, John
1947 births
American bankers
American financial company founders
American financiers
American hedge fund managers
American investors
American money managers
American racehorse owners and breeders
American stock traders
Businesspeople from Chicago
Living people
Long-Term Capital Management
New York Racing Association executives
Northwestern University alumni
Businesspeople from Greenwich, Connecticut
University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumni