This week in our Masters in Business interview, we speak with with Art Samberg of Pequot Partners.
When Samberg began his first fund in 1986, there were less than 100 hedge funds. By 2000, with George Soros and Julian Robertson retired, the Wall Street Journal reported that Pequot Capital Management had became the largest hedge fund in the world. The fund returned 17.8% net of fees over the life of the fund, even after starting his full first year (1987) down almost 25%.
Samberg discusses his “engineer’s approach” to investing as an exercise in problem solving. His family office focuses on big issue “problem solving” including solar, fusion power, and radioactive cesium reclamation projects – the past is actually live at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
He also was forthcoming about insider trading allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that resulted in a $28 million fine and that led to the fund’s closing. He now runs Hawkes Financial, a family office that manages his wealth. He also is chairman of the Samberg Family Foundation, a philanthropy.
Samberg studied Aeronautical engineering and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After his getting his Bachelors of Science there, B.S., he earned a Masters in the same subject at Stanford University. He worked at Lockheed Missile and Space Company before getting an M.B.A. from Columbia University. He is a Life Member of the MIT Corporation, and a Member of MIT Executive Committee, and Co-Chair of the Board of Overseers of the Business School at Columbia. He served as Chairman of the MIT Investment Management Company and currently sits on the Board of Advisor of the MIT Energy Initiative.
The full podcast is available on iTunes, SoundCloud and on Bloomberg. Earlier podcasts can be found on iTunes and at BloombergView.com.
Next week, we speak with economist Gary Shilling.
