Haute 100 New York Update: Steven Cohen

Our Haute 100 list details the accomplishments of the most influential people in each of our markets—Miami, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. These people continue to make moves, so rather than waiting for the next Haute 100 issue to come out, we thought we’d provide you with regular updates on those Haute 100 members who are making headlines. And Steven Cohen of SAC hedge fund fame is certainly making his fair share of headlines this year, despite never courting them himself.

Category Billionaires
Steven Cohen
Company SAC Capital Advisors
Industry Finance
What MADE Him Haute Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital, has 700 employees and $25 billion under management. According to Forbes, as of September 2008, Steven Cohen’s estimated net worth was $8 billion, but fell to $5.5 billion in 2009. SAC is responsible for 2 percent of the daily volume on New York Stock Exchange.

What Makes Him Haute Now: For only the second time in his remarkable career (so remarkable he’s nicknamed “the king of hedge funds”), Cohen welcomed a reporter into his world for a feature interview, “What’s Eating Steven Cohen?”, which appears in this month’s Vanity Fair. I spent a good portion of my Sunday pouring over the in-depth piece, which covers everything from his love of contemporary art (Jeff Koons’ works get quite a few mentions), to his poker-playing college days, to his meteoric rise in the exclusive world of hedge funds. The entire (and lengthy) piece is not on Vanity Fair‘s website, but it is certainly worth a read. Cohen claims that he is ready to retire from the lucrative world of hedge funds, the haven where he built a $6.4 billion fortune that earned him the ranking as the 36th wealthiest American, according to Forbes. Bryan Burrough, the journalist behind the profile, writes about Cohen’s innate ability to read the stock ticker, guessing which way various companies’ stocks would go, despite not knowing (or even caring) what it is those companies do. Despite that unsurpassed talent, he has taken a step back from trading as of late, only personally managing $2 billion in capital, which is about 15 percent of SAC’s portfolio.