Quant King Died: James Simmons, highly respected on Wall Street and known as the Quant King, left the world at the age of 86. He cracked the market in such a way that he created one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. His hedge fund delivered returns of more than 60 percent annually for three decades
Quant King Died: James Simons, the billionaire investor, mathematician and Cold War code-breaker known as the Quant King, as well as the founder of Renaissance Technologies, one of the world’s most famous and profitable hedge funds. No more. He was 86 years old. However, Simons Foundation has not made any disclosure about the cause of his death. He leaves behind his wife, three children, five grandchildren and a grade-grandchild. At the Nobel ‘Abel Prize’ ceremony in mathematics in the year 2022, James had said that he had done a lot of mathematics, made a lot of money and gave away almost all the money. He further said that this is the story of his life.
How to become Quant King?
Sixty years ago James Simmons changed his path. He left his job of teaching mathematics and US Intelligence and entered the field of investment. In the field of investing, he mastered the use of computer signals to take trading decisions, due to which he got the nickname of Quant King. He was famous as a man who saw the market as a code that had to be solved. Gregory Zuckerman, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, wrote about him in a book in 2019, The Man Who Solved the Market.
As a mathematician, he worked with large volumes of data and looked for patterns in buying and selling. He started Renaissance in 1978. He soon discovered a new way of investing that laid the foundation for quantitative trading which was later adopted by many companies. The special thing is that he hired physicists, mathematicians, astronomers and computer scientists who generally have no knowledge of finance. Talking about it at a New York conference in 2007, he said that he did not hire anyone from Wall Street.
Simmons was widely respected on Wall Street, but also somewhat feared. This is because Renaissance’s Medallion Fund has given an average annual return of more than 60% over three decades. Under Simons it became one of the most successful hedge funds in the world. He retired as CEO in 2010 and then stepped down as chairman in 2021.
Crores of dollars spent for the welfare of people
About James Simmons The Managing and Founding Principal of AQR Capital Management said that James Simmons was an exception to Churchill’s rule. Churchill used to say that a great and a good person is very rarely the same, that is, it is very difficult for the same person to be both great and good. Forbes estimated his wealth at $31 billion. He invested crores of dollars in the welfare of the people. He spent this money on medical and science research, teaching and Democratic candidates. Simons and his wife Marilyn started the Simons Foundation, which supports scientists and organizations for research in mathematics and the basic sciences.
