Julian Robertson: A Tiger in the Land of Bulls and Bears

by Daniel A. Strachman

Julian Robertson is one of the most successful and well-known hedge fund managers of our time. For nearly twenty years his infamous fund--Tiger Management--was the talk of the town, routinely delivering double-digit performance. This biography will explore this legendary fund manager's role in the development and popularity of hedge funds, examine his investment methodology and strategy, and look at the growth of his fund and his 'Tigers'--individuals who have gone on to great success themselves.
* Includes candid interviews of Robertson, his colleagues, and his peers
* Uncovers the trading strategies and investment style of a legendary fund manager
* Offers a rare glimpse inside the personal world of Julian Robertson
READERSHIP: Those with any interest in or knowledge of hedge funds, business readers, investment professionals.
Daniel A. Strachman is Managing Director of Answers Company, a New York-based money management firm that offers investment management services to individuals and institutions. He has contributed many articles on investment management and strategies to publications including the New York Post and the Financial Times and is also the author of Getting Started in Hedge Funds (Wiley 2000).
Also available by Daniel Strachman, Getting Started in Hedge Funds, 0471316962 Paper.
EAN - 9780471323631
Carton Quantity - 41

Genres: Finance, Biography, Business, Nonfiction

289 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

I''d have to agree with the Amazon reviews (http://www.amazon.com/Julian-Robertso...) that Strachman does not much more than cut and paste previous articles, and that his writing is so personally worshipful that polemic gets in the way of sound reporting. That said, I didn't know much about Robertson till I read this, and there is some value to summarizing things up.

There is some value add in the later chapters when he tries to digest what went wrong with Tiger and when he is talking about the Tiger cubs (both 1st and 2nd gen). The main takeaways seems to be that (i) size, and (ii) culture, were the factors to blame in Tiger losing its nimbleness. There are a handful of good anecdotes, too, about the extent to which Robertson pushed his analysis.

On the whole, though, there could be far better explanation of the investment and analytical process used at Tiger, with fuller case studies fleshed out.

[Viktor Nilsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of facts and anecdotes about Julian Robertson and the organization that he built, this book presents a wide variety of stories and perspectives, but fails to give the reader much insights. The book lacks on both depth as well as synthesis and conclusions.

There are both stories without conclusions as well ass conclusions without stories to support them. It is at one point stated that Tiger was an unpleasant place to work, and then later its success is attributed to great teamwork and personal involvement from Robertson. This is not the only contradiction - Robertson is first praised for ignoring the market and sticking to his conviction, and at another point criticized for how this trait lead to Tiger's eventual demise. The same goes for expanding into global macro investing - at first a great move to diversify, and then toward the end it has instead become a sign of Tiger not sticking to its principles. And the same goes for value investing versus growth investing.

Lastly I wonder what kind of firm "Risk Arab Partners" (p. 136) was? And what does it mean to "grow to the tune of 10 times earnings"? The fact is that this book is just sloppily written, full of typos and unsubstantiated assumptions. To a large part, however, it is a large collection of stories relating to Tiger and Robertson, which means you will get something from reading it, if you're purely looking for information.

[Alex Liao · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lacks content

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had a personal interest as a friend worked for him and heard many stories. Good book to read for a finance guy.

[Avadhoot Joshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book outlines the journey of Julian Robertson from -
- His days at Kidder, Peabody & Co
- His Meetings with Alfred Winslow Jones: The Father of the Hedge Fund Industry
- Starting up a Hedge fund with the Long short strategy
- Better results with initial strategy leading to higher Assets under management(AUM)
- Expanding the investing strategy into global markets and adopting global macro, commodity trading
- Successes in these new areas leading to an inflow of money, thus higher AUM and
- finally having a problem - huge funds and fewer opportunities leading to poor results and closure of the fund.

[Tab Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts were great, both how the book was outlined was awkward and there was so much discussion on quarterly returns and what is happening here and there it was hard to keep things straight. This was only complicated by the book jumping around in timeframes. Also, frustrating the returns spoken about in the books didn't match the return in the back of the book. I also wish there was more detailed discussion on his investment style, but there were some good nuggets. The book was written in 2004, a few years after Robertson shut the fund. I wish he waited longer to publish though and felt writing so close to closing Tiger was a disservice.

[Ulio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good biography of the life of Julian Robertson and Tiger Management. You won't learn anything incredible other than all investors face the same doubt. Whether you are an individual investor or the head of one of the most successful hedge funds in the world.

There is a few good tidbits on how these big firms look to scale but for most people that will useless because you will never have access to that kind of capital.

[LoringNotBoring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some okay, some bad

The first chapter totally sucked up to the Robinson family. It wasn’t until later chapters that some valuable insights came up. Also the kindle version is missing some of the news articles and has messed up font. Read this book if you’re interested in Julian Robertson, but don’t expect to get much.

[Mohit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not very well written. Miss mash of facts. No coherent storyline.

However, very interesting facts compensate for the areas where this book is lacking - short of googling my way through old press articles, no other way to learn about the heyday of Tiger Management

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very little insight or entertainment value

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Positives: Lot of fascinating detail about one of the greatest hedge funds in history.

Negatives: Too partial, poor editing (Kindle)

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good recap of his record and life, just got super repetitive

[Jim Ford · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it was interesting to learn about a revered hedge fund manager, the book lacked details and was not very well-written. I would have liked more specific examples of the research process, more details around the evolution of the firm's AUM, and more specific stories that relayed Robertson's competitive nature and tendency to push people beyond their limits. So, while interesting, it was a bit of a disappointment overall.

[Jarom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written and explores the life of an investing legend, oftimes providing over 35% returns for his investors NET of fees. Not only is he an investing legend, but he also trained so many great managers. The father of the tiger cubs provided a great legacy that is recorded in this biography.

[hamad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Put simply, this is a badly written and edited book but with a fantastic subject and information that is not easily collated. It's good to have it all in one place even though certain parts are frustrating and the errors (19% for -19% in his performance table for 1999 ?!) can be confusing. I did find it useful though.

[Kean Chan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting more in depth exploration of the guys behind Tiger and Robertson's investment approach and philosophy and techniques. More could have been done, but overall a good and light read for anyone interested in knowing more about the Queen Bee of Wall Street

[Johannes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book about the once world's greatest hedge-fund. Enjoyed reading the book, although it repeats itself quite a bit. The last chapter, about Robertson's philantrophy, was quite boring and did not leave a good aftertaste.

[Scott Bartley · Rating 2 out of 5]

good story, terribly written.