Jim Simons, a mathematician who built the most successful quantitative hedge fund in history, died on Friday in New York City, according to his foundation’s website.
Jim Simons,, who pioneered mathematical models and algorithms for investing choices, left Renaissance Technologies with a track record that equaled that of giants such as Warren Buffett and George Soros. According to Gregory Zuckerman’s book “The Man Who Solved the Market,” his flagship Medallion Fund returned 66% a year from 1988 to 2018.
During the Vietnam War, he served as a codebreaker for US intelligence, watching the Soviet Union and successfully cracking a Russian code.
Jim Simons acquired a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958 and a doctorate in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, at the age of 23. The quant genius launched Renaissance in 1978, at the age of 40, after leaving academics to pursue a career in trading.
Unlike other investors, who looked at fundamentals like sales, revenues, and profit margins to determine a company’s worth, Jim Simons relied solely on an automated trading system to capitalize on market inefficiencies and trading patterns.
“I do not have an opinion on any stocks… In a 2016 CNBC interview, Jim Simons stated that the computer has its own ideas, which humans blindly adhere to.
From 1988 to 2018, his Medallion Fund generated more than $100 billion in trading profits, with an average return of 39% after costs. The fund was closed to new investments in 1993, and Simons only permitted his staff to participate in it beginning in 2005.
Since 1980, when Jim Simons changed trading, quantitative methods based on trend-following models have grown in favor on Wall Street. JPMorgan estimates that quant funds now account for more than 20% of total equity assets.
Forbes assessed Jim Simon’s net worth at $31.4 billion when he died.
The quant genius formerly led the math department at Stony Brook University in New York, and his mathematical innovations have contributed to subjects such as string theory, topology, and condensed matter physics, according to his foundation.
Jim Simons and his wife founded the Jim Simons Foundation in 1994 and have donated billions of dollars to charitable initiatives, particularly those that promote math and science research.
He continued to contribute to the foundation’s efforts until the end of his life. Jim Simons is survived by his wife, three children, five grandkids, and one great-grandchild.
