Michael platt bluecrest biography sampler
•
A Letter a Day
Hi everyone! Due to popular request (and a few persistent individuals), I’ll be restarting this newsletter, but with a few changes. Most notably, rather than sending “A Letter a Day”, I’ll be sharing a letter or transcript twice a week, once on Tuesday afternoon (2:22pm) and once on Saturday morning (6:06am). Second, I’m expanding the scope of the newsletter to include a broader range of subjects, but still focused on thought-provoking investors (across venture, hedge funds, and private equity), founders (not just tech), and operators (sales, marketing, product, etc). Lastly, I’ll be limiting my commentary so it’s a smoother reading experience and you can read the work as is. (If you’d like to see my notes or trade thoughts, shoot me a DM on twitter!)
Today’s letter is a transcript of BlueCrest Capital Management Founder Michael Platt’s first live television interview on December 15, 2011, where he discussed Navigating the Euro Debt Crisis. That’s the same year • Even the outside egos atop the hedge fund universe have been cut down to size bygd the relentless headwinds battering the financial industry over the past year. There have been layoffs, outflows, and closures. Some managers are leaving the business entirely to flip houses. The latest casualty appears to be Brevan Howard Asset Management, long considered one of Europe’s most significant hedge funds with about $40 billion in assets under management just two years ago. Now, according to The Wall Street Journal, that number has shrunk to $18 billion as investors have pulled their money, and Brevan Howard has decided to stop charging some basic fees. Many hedge funds operate under the so-called two-and-twenty structure, taking 2 percent of assets invested and skimming 20 percent off the top of any profits made. It’s that remunerative structure—plus a sympathetic tax code that treats hedge-funders’ income as capital gains—that’s given rise to a whole crop of hedge-fund billionaires and m • Michael Edward Platt also known as Mike Platt, is a co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management (UK) LLP – for a long time this has been Europe’s third-biggest hedge-fund. The lucrative businessman is the Chief Executive Officer, Director and principal of the systematic hedge fund that he co-founded in 2000 with Bill Reeves who later retired from the firm. Their headquarter offices are based in Guernsey, England. The company has additional registered branch offices in London, Geneva, Connecticut, New York, Singapore and Boston. Born on 12 December 1968, Michael Platt grew up in Preston, England in a closely knit family. He joined London School of Economics where he attained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. Michael Platt credits his grandmother for his interest in the investment markets from an early age. He says he learnt trading in stocks from his grandmother who first gave him her own shares to invest in a trade. He made a good profit out
Michael Platt
Career Beginnings