The month of May is American Jewish History Month, so for this entire month I will continue share the stories of important Jewish figures in American finance. Today, I will discuss Steven A. Cohen, one of the most successful hedge fund managers ever.
Born on June 11, 1956, in Great Neck, New Yor,, Cohen is one of 8 children. He developed an early interest in finance and risk-taking, which he attributes to his experiences playing poker in high school. He pursued higher education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a degree in economics.
In 1978, after graduating from Penn, Cohen got a Wall Street job as a junior trader in the options arbitrage department at Gruntal & Co. On his first day on the job he made an $8,000 profit. He eventually would go on to make the company around $100,000 a day and eventually managed a $75 million portfolio and six traders. Cohen was running his trading group by 1984 and continued running it until he started his own company.
In 1992, he founded S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a hedge fund that became one of the most successful in the industry. However, in 2013, the firm pleaded guilty to insider trading charges and paid $1.8 billion in fines. As part of the settlement, Cohen was banned from managing outside money for two years.
Following the closure of S.A.C., Cohen launched Point72 Asset Management in 2014, a firm that manages his personal wealth and later reopened to outside investors in 2018. His investment strategies is characterized by high-risk, high-reward trading, and have made him one of the wealthiest individuals in finance with a current net worth of approximately $21 billion.
Beyond finance, Cohen is a passionate art collector, owning an extensive collection valued at over $1 billion. He is also deeply involved in philanthropy, particularly through the Cohen Veterans Network, which provides mental health services to veterans and their families.
In 2020, Cohen became the majority owner of the New York Mets, acquiring a 97% stake in the team. His ownership has brought renewed optimism to Mets fans, with expectations of significant investments in the team's future.
Cohen's life and career have loosely inspired the character Bobby Axelrod in the Showtime series Billions.