Jim Simons, the legendary hedge-fund manager who cracked the market, dead at 86 (2024)

Jim Simons, the legendary hedge-fund manager who cracked the market, dead at 86 (1)

  • Jim Simons, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, has died.
  • The legendary investor was 86.
  • Simons foundedRenaissance Technologies and was a codebreaker, mathematician, and philanthropist.

Jim Simons, the legendary hedge-fund manager who cracked the market, dead at 86 (2)

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Jim Simons, the legendary hedge-fund manager who cracked the market, dead at 86 (4)

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Jim Simons, the legendary billionaire hedge-fund manager who founded the wildly successful Renaissance Technologies, died on Friday, his foundation announced on its website.

He was 86 years old.

Simons was a titan of investing and the 49th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $31.8 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

Before he took Wall Street by storm, Simons made a career as an award-winning mathematician and a codebreaker for the National Security Agency. His work in pattern recognition and topology would later help form the bedrock of string theory in quantum mechanics.

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Simons founded what would become Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund specializing in quantitative models, in 1978.

For over four decades, Renaissance has been one of the most successful hedge funds in history, boasting staggering 66% pre-fee annualized returns over a 30-year period.

His fund's biggest current holdings include investments in Uber, Nvidia, Meta, Amazon, Tesla, and Novo Nordisk.

In Gregory Zuckerman's book "The Man Who Solved the Market," Simons said he got into investing after getting tired of academia.

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His strategy was unlike anything on Wall Street at the time. Simons used the same pattern-recognition analysis that propelled his academic career to scour financial data for trends.

Simons' algorithmic approach paid off with huge profits. He also put his massive wealth to use as a prolific philanthropist, founding the Simons Foundation with his wife, Marilyn, to promote science and mathematics, and donating billions to various causes.

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Simons also founded Math for America, a nonprofit supporting STEM education in secondary schools, and has donated millions to leading universities, including his alma maters, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley.

"Jim was an exceptional leader who did transformative work in mathematics and developed a world-leading investment company," David Spergel, the president of the Simons Foundation, said in a statement.

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Simons is survived by his wife, three children, five grandchildren, and a great-grandchild, his foundation said.

Correction: May 10, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the year that RenaissanceTechnologieswas founded. The firm, which was originally called Monemetrics, was founded in 1978, not 1982. Simons also worked in topology, not topography.

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Jim Simons, the legendary hedge-fund manager who cracked the market, dead at 86 (5)

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Jim Simons, the legendary hedge-fund manager who cracked the market, dead at 86 (2024)

FAQs

What happened to Jim Simons wealth? ›

At the time of his death, Simons was worth some $31 billion, according to Forbes. In 1994, Simons and Marilyn, who has a Ph. D. in economics from Stony Brook, established the Simons Foundation to give some of their fortune away.

What happened to Jim Simons? ›

Death. Simons died of lung cancer in New York City on May 10, 2024, at age 86, surrounded by his family. He was active in the work of his foundation until the end of his life.

How much money did Jim Simons give away? ›

He stepped back from leading Renaissance in 2010, and he and Marilyn have given more than $6 billion away via their foundation, making them the sixth-most philanthropic givers in America, according to Forbes.

What is Jim Simons net worth? ›

With a net worth estimated at $31 billion by Forbes, Simons also became a prominent philanthropist, giving away billions of dollars during his lifetime to support medical and science research, teaching and Democratic candidates. "Churchill said 'great and good are seldom the same man.

What is Jim Simons IQ? ›

Jim Simons has about 250 iq points. He may seem like a normal(ish) person, but h... | Hacker News.

Was Jim Simons a genius? ›

'Quant King' Jim Simons was a math and investing genius, but also a management wiz.

What is Jim Simons known for? ›

Jim Simons is a renowned mathematician and investor. Known as the "Quant King," he incorporated the use of quantitative analysis into his investment strategy.

How did Jim Simons' firm make 100 billion? ›

How did Simons and the crew of academics who ran Renaissance's Medallion Fund produce more than $100 billion in gains and average annual returns of 39% between 1988 and 2018? Those numbers came after the firm's enormous investor fees.

Does the Medallion Fund still exist? ›

The fund has been closed to outside investors since 1993 and is available only to current and past employees and their families. The firm bought out the last investor in the Medallion fund in 2005 and the investor community has not seen its returns since then.

Does Jim Simons have a PhD? ›

Simons holds a BSc. degree in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a PhD in Mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. His scientific research was in the area of geometry and topology.

How did Jim Simons become a billionaire? ›

A mathematics Ph. D., Simons worked as a codebreaker during the Vietnam War and chaired the math department at Stony Brook University in the 1960s and 70s. He founded Renaissance Technologies in 1982 and grew it into a hedge fund giant, famous for its Medallion Fund.

What is the average return of Jim Simons? ›

Legendary investor Jim Simons ran one of the most successful hedge funds in history, achieving a staggering 66% in average annual gross returns (before fees are subtracted) and 39.2% average annual net returns (after fees are subtracted).

What stocks did Jim Simons buy? ›

Jim Simons Stock Portfolio: Top Stock Picks
  • United Therapeutics Corporation (NASDAQ:UTHR)
  • Netflix, Inc. ( NASDAQ:NFLX)
  • NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA)
  • Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ:VRTX)
  • Airbnb, Inc. ( NASDAQ:ABNB)
Dec 8, 2023

How old was Jim Simons when he started trading? ›

In 1978, at the age of 40, Simons astonished his colleagues by quitting academia to try his hand at trading. He started an investment firm in a dreary Long Island strip mall, next to a women's clothing boutique and two doors from a pizza joint.

Did Jim Simons retire? ›

By the time he retired as chief executive of the business in 2010, Mr. Simons was worth $11 billion (almost $16 billion in today's currency), and a decade later his fortune had doubled.

How much is the Simons Foundation worth? ›

As one of the largest charitable organizations in the United States with assets of over $5 billion in 2022, the foundation's mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and basic sciences.

How much is the founder of Renaissance Technologies worth? ›

He is the founder of Renaissance Technologies, a renowned quantitative hedge fund, and is well-known for pioneering quantitative investing by utilizing mathematical models to exploit market inefficiencies. Simons is often described as the greatest investor on Wall Street and has an estimated net worth of $29.4 billion.

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