In a move that will reverberate on Wall Street, Bridgewater
Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund, told its clients on Thursday
that it had hired technologist Jon Rubinstein as its co-chief executive
officer.
A former Apple AAPL +0.06% executive who has been associated with the development of the iMac and iPod, Rubinstein will starting in May serve alongside Eileen Murray as co-CEO at Bridgewater Associates, the hedge fund founded by billionaire Ray Dalio that now manages some $154 billion.
Bridgewater’s hiring of Rubinstein comes at a time when financial
firms, particularly big hedge funds, are increasingly looking to Silicon
Valley and computer engineers to find a leg up in financial markets,
resembling technology firms more than traditional Wall Street trading
operations.
In addition to working with Steve Jobs for nearly 16 years, Rubinstein has been associated with the development of smartphones at Palm,where he served as chief executive officer for a brief period. He also spent time at Hewlett Packard and sits on the boards of Amazon, Qualcomm QCOM +0.13% and the National Academy of Engineering.
“We needed to bring in an exceptional co-CEO with a strong tech focus to supplement the existing leadership,” Bridgewater wrote in a note to its clients. “Technology is pervasively important at Bridgewater, especially since one of our major strategic initiatives in the coming years is to continue building out the systemized decision-making that has been so successful in our investment area and to extend it to our management as well.”
Bridgewater’s hiring of Rubinstein is also the latest management
shake up at Bridgewater as Dalio, 66, continues to work to build an
enduring financial institution, which now has some 1,500 employees. In
recent years Dalio has sold small slices of equity in the firm to some
of its clients and elevated others to important positions while
diminishing his role, which officially now is co-chief investment
officer and co-executive chairman. For years, Dalio’s heir apparent
seemed to be Greg Jensen, 42, but in recent weeks The Wall Street Journal
reported tensions between Dalio and Jensen, which the firm denied.
Rubinstein will be taking over Jensen’s role as co-CEO and Jensen will
retain his position as co-chief investment officer.
“It made the most sense to have Greg spend less time on management and more time on investments,” Bridgewater told its clients in a note, which also announced that former Microsoft MSFT -1.50% executive Craig Mundie would become Dalio’s new
A former Apple AAPL +0.06% executive who has been associated with the development of the iMac and iPod, Rubinstein will starting in May serve alongside Eileen Murray as co-CEO at Bridgewater Associates, the hedge fund founded by billionaire Ray Dalio that now manages some $154 billion.
Jon Rubinstein (KIMIHIRO HOSHINO/AFP/Getty Images)
In addition to working with Steve Jobs for nearly 16 years, Rubinstein has been associated with the development of smartphones at Palm,where he served as chief executive officer for a brief period. He also spent time at Hewlett Packard and sits on the boards of Amazon, Qualcomm QCOM +0.13% and the National Academy of Engineering.
“We needed to bring in an exceptional co-CEO with a strong tech focus to supplement the existing leadership,” Bridgewater wrote in a note to its clients. “Technology is pervasively important at Bridgewater, especially since one of our major strategic initiatives in the coming years is to continue building out the systemized decision-making that has been so successful in our investment area and to extend it to our management as well.”
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“It made the most sense to have Greg spend less time on management and more time on investments,” Bridgewater told its clients in a note, which also announced that former Microsoft MSFT -1.50% executive Craig Mundie would become Dalio’s new
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