Jim Simmons
One of the greatest investors in history died today at the age of 86 His foundation.
I was talking about Simmons earlier today in a webinar, so it's a terrible coincidence that he died on the same day.
Simons didn't start investing until the second half of his life, founding what became known as Renaissance Technologies in 1978 after years as a mathematics professor. But he used his skills to exploit patterns in the markets and achieved better returns than perhaps anyone else in history. Its flagship Medallion fund has averaged 66.1% returns since 1988, and it has long been closed to anyone but employees.
His net worth was recently estimated at $30 billion, and he ranks as the 52nd richest person in the world.
Little has been revealed about Simons' methods, but he highlights that they have changed significantly over the years. The 2019 book about him called “The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution” is a good one.