Julian Hart Robertson, Jr. was born on 25 June 1932, in Salisbury, North Carolina USA, and is a retired hedge fund manager and investor, now a philanthropist, best known for founding the investment firm Tiger Management Corp. His company was one of the earliest hedge fund management groups, and all of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Julian Robertson? As of early-2017, sources estimate a net worth that is at $3.4 billion, earned through the success of his numerous ventures. He earned a high salary from Tiger, and used this to continue building his wealth. All of these achievements have ensured the position of his wealth.
Julian Robertson Net Worth $3.4 billion
Robertson attended Episcopal High School, and would matriculate in 1951. He then enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduating in 1955. After his studies, he joined the US Navy in which he would serve as an officer for two years. He then moved to New York City, and became a stockbroker for Kidder, Peabody & Co. He headed the firm’s asset management division, before moving to New Zealand to try and write a novel, but after a year, he returned to the States, launching Tiger Management with the help of investments from family and friends.
As the company’s money continued to grow, they developed an issue with BusinessWeek after the publication criticized Robertson’s performance as the manager of the company. The magazine was sued for defamation, but the case was settled without any money changing hands. Tiger Management continued successfully, and reached a peak of $22 billion in assets in 1998. Julian had successfully predicted the Tech Bubble which increased the company’s earnings and his net worth significantly. The company wisely refused to invest in the internet bubble, but a large portion of their equity was in US Airways which slowly dragged down their success. This led him to eventually close his company in 2000. He removed a lot of the money, and would distribute a lot of the remaining money to former Tiger investors.
Despite this, Julian continued to build his wealth by supporting and financing upcoming hedge fund managers in return for a stake in their companies, including Ole Andreas Halvorsen and Lee Ainslie. He had funds in companies such as JAT Capital Management, Blue Ridge Capita, and Viking Global Investors. In 2008, he was inducted into the Institutional Investors Alpha’s Hedge Fund Manager’s Hall of Fame along with many others.
For his personal life, it is known that Robertson married Josephine Tucker in 1972, and they stayed together until her death in 2010 from breast cancer. Later in his career, he engaged in philanthropic work; he founded the Robertson Scholars Program which awarded scholarships to 36 students each year. He also joined “the pledge” of several wealthy people to put at least half of their assets to charity. He is an active investor in New Zealand, and also donated $27 million to the New York Stem Cell Foundation. He supported Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush during their presidential campaigns.
