Steven Cohen May Sell Stock in Company Whose Founder Went to Prison For Insider Trading
ALEXANDR OLEINIC, 17 October 2013
Steven Cohen, SAC Capital, Insider Trading: According to an update from Reuters Business on Twitter, Steven Cohen‘s hedge fund SAC Capital would like to sell its position in the privately-owned company Kadmon Pharmaceuticals. As the outlet points out, “Kadmon was founded by Sam Waksal, who served a five year prison term for insider stock trading.”
Warren Buffett never mentions this but he is one of the first hedge fund managers who unlocked the secrets of successful stock market investing. He launched his hedge fund in 1956 with $105,100 in seed capital. Back then they weren’t called hedge funds, they were called “partnerships”. Warren Buffett took 25% of all returns in excess of 6 percent.
For example S&P 500 Index returned 43.4% in 1958. If Warren Buffett’s hedge fund didn’t generate any outperformance (i.e. secretly invested like a closet index fund), Warren Buffett would have pocketed a quarter of the 37.4% excess return. That would have been 9.35% in hedge fund “fees”.
