Point72 Asset Management, 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 ...

. It was founded in 2014 by Steve Cohen, after his previous company S.A.C. Capital Advisors pleaded guilty to

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

charges. In 2018, the company reopened to external investors after a two-year ban and began accepting outside capital. The company's office is located in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2 ...

History

2014 to 2019

Point72 was founded in 2014 by Steve Cohen as the successor to SAC Capital, after the firm pleaded guilty to federal insider trading charges and paid a $1.8 billion fine. In March 2014, SAC Capital transferred the bulk of its assets to Point72 and was placed in "run-off," or a winding down of its operations. Vincent Tortorella was hired as chief surveillance officer, and Kevin J. O’Connor, was hired as an in-house attorney. In August 2014, Douglas D. Haynes was appointed president and Timothy Shaughnessy was appointed CEO. Shaughnessy retired in 2018 and was replaced by Gavin O'Connor, who joined the firm from Goldman Sachs. There are satellite offices in New York City, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore, London, Paris, Sydney, Warsaw and Palo Alto.

2020 to present

In August 2020 the firm closed to new money with just over $17 billion under management. In January 2021, along with

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Citadel Securities Citadel Securities is an American market making firm headquartered in Miami. It is one of the largest market makers in the world, and is active in more than 50 countries. It is the largest designated market maker on the New York Stock Exchange. C ...

, Point72 contributed $750 million to a $2.75 billion emergency bailout of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that had incurred deep losses in the

GameStop short squeeze In January 2021, a short squeeze of the stock of the American video game retailer GameStop () and other securities took place, causing major financial consequences for certain hedge funds and large losses for short sellers. Approximately 140 ...

; Melvin Capital is run by Gabe Plotkin, a former protégé of Steven Cohen and one of the managers of SAC whose trades were investigated by the SEC. In the first half of 2021, Point72 was reported to have lost $500 million on its investment in Melvin Capital.

Gender bias lawsuits

The New York Times reported that Point72 President Douglas D. Haynes who was hired as managing director for human capital and then became President resigned in March 2018 "amid gender bias lawsuit" and was replaced as president by Cohen. The firm has faced multiple lawsuits from employees alleging gender and pay discrimination. In September 2020 Point72 settled a gender/pay discrimination suit brought by Lauren Bonner the former Head of Talent Analytics.

References

{{Authority control Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut Financial services companies established in 1992 Hedge fund firms in Connecticut Hedge funds