D.E. Shaw & Co.
 |
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| Limited partnership | |
| Industry | Investment management |
| Founded | 1988 |
| Headquarters | 1166 Avenue of the Americas, New York City, New York, U.S. |
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Key people
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David E. Shaw |
| Products | Hedge fund, private equity |
| AUM | US$40 billion (as of 2016) |
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Number of employees
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1300+ |
| Website | www.deshaw.com |
D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. is a global investment management firm founded in 1988 by David E. Shaw and based in New York City. The firm has offices in New York, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Shanghai, London and Bermuda. According to the Financial Times, D. E. Shaw & Co. has delivered the third highest returns of any hedge fund in the world since inception.
The firm was founded by David E. Shaw, a former Columbia University faculty member with a Stanford PhD, and has more than 1,300 employees. David Shaw directed the company from 1988 to 2001. In 2002, David Shaw removed himself from day to day involvement in the firm, and transitioned leadership to a team of six managing directors: Anne Dinning, Julius Gaudio, Louis Salkind, Stuart Steckler, Max Stone and Eric Wepsic. The firm's management structure of the same six-member executive committee remained intact through 2010.
In 1997, the firm returned capital to most of its early investors in favor of a structured credit facility of nearly $2 billion from Bank of America, with terms that allowed D.E. Shaw & Co. to keep a higher fraction of profits than hedge fund investors normally allow. After the Russian debt default in 1998, the company suffered losses in its fixed-income trading.
In December 2003, a subsidiary of one of the company's funds acquired the toy store FAO Schwarz, which reopened for business in New York and Las Vegas in the fall of 2004. In the same year, D. E. Shaw affiliate, Laminar Portfolios, acquired the online assets of KB Toys, which continued operating as eToys.com. In August 2004, D. E. Shaw & Co., along with MIC Capital, proposed to inject $50M into the bankrupt WCI Steel. In December 2004, D.E. Shaw & Co. bought 6.6% of USG Corp, a wallboard manufacturer seeking bankruptcy protection as a result of rising asbestos liabilities.
In 2006, Lawrence Summers became managing director at D.E. Shaw & Co. and left in 2008, receiving $5.2 million in compensation for that period. In late 2009 during the Financial Crisis it was reported that D.E. Shaw & Co. had set up a Portfolio Acquisitions Unit, the aim of which was to acquire illiquid assets from rival hedge funds.
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Wikipedia