On the record about
7 people · 28 quotes · 30 Jun 2022 to 31 Jul 2026
4 of 7 lanes rest on fewer than 5 quotes and are marked thin. Offsets are days from the middle first-quote date, 16 Jun 2023 — a date, and nothing else. It is not a claim about who reached a view first.
Marks advocates cutting off the bottom tail rather than shooting for the top tail to achieve best long-term performance.
“Approach is very simple, cut off the bottom tail. That's what this guy in the Midwest did.”
Druckenmiller admits he's not sure he's made money in shorts over forty years despite never having a down year.
“If I took back the last forty years, I'm afraid to look. I've never had a down year but I'm not sure I've made money in shorts.”
Druckenmiller lost $600 million on a $200 million short position in Internet stocks in three weeks in 1999.
“In when I was at Soros, shorted $200,000,000 worth of Internet stocks in March '99 and in three weeks covered them at a $600,000,000 loss. I lost $600,000,000 on a $200,000,000 investment in three weeks.”
Gerstner suggests selling long-dated Nvidia calls for downside protection after stock's parabolic rise to $400.
“take something like Nvidia, if I'm playing at home or I'm a, you know, a professional investor, I may say, oh, I'm gonna go sell some long dated calls to buy a little protection to the downside.”
Gurley cites adage that protecting against downside in venture requires capturing full upside during bubbles.
“Unfortunately, and this ties into the cyclicality thing, there's a saying which is the best way to protect yourself against the downside is to enjoy every last bit of the upside.”
Gerstner says Altimeter reduced long exposure by at least 50% since year start.
“-We've reduced our exposure quite considerably, you know, by, you know, at least 50% since the start of the year.”
Gerstner reveals Altimeter reduced net exposure from 93% at year start to 60% currently.
“For us, our our net exposure today is 60%. Like I said, we started the year at 93.”
Gerstner says his hedge fund is running 60% net long exposure despite bullish AI view.
“Our net exposures are 60%. What does that mean again? Reminder for folks at home. That means I have six out of ten dollars at risk”
Gerstner reveals Altimeter is 60% net long, with six of ten dollars at risk in the market.
“Our net exposures are 60%. What does that mean again? Reminder for folks at home. That means I have six out of ten dollars at risk long the market in our hedge fund.”
Gerstner reduced exposure to tiny by April 2024 due to fears about the Navarro nuclear option on tariffs.
“By April, we were tiny in terms of our overall exposure to the market because of our fears about I came on this program and talked about, you know, the Navarro nuclear option around tariffs.”
Marks quotes Buffett: when others act less prudently, we must act more prudently in our own affairs.
“Buffett says most things best. He says, the less prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we must conduct our own affairs.”
“That felt really good on the way up. That's not going to feel so good on the way down.”
Rowan says Apollo focused on first lien, cash pay loans to large companies with low leverage.
“And there are companies of which we are one, but not the only one who went all first lien, who went almost all cash pay, who went large companies, who work with low leverage.”
Rowan criticizes managers with 30% portfolio concentration in a single industry being disrupted by technology.
“If 30% of your portfolio is in one industry and that one industry is being impacted by technology, you have not been a good risk manager.”
Rowan predicts good risk managers will make record profits this year and next from defensive positioning.
“If you were a good risk manager, you are going to make more money this year and next year if it continues than you ever have before because you've been risk off.”
Rowan states the 30% overhang from geopolitics, inflation, and tech change was foreseeable and predictable.
“I think the 30% overhang of geopolitics inflation technological change is now here. It was foreseeable, not maybe exactly how it occurred, but it was foreseeable. It was predictable.”
Rowan criticizes managers who only recently realized AI threatens enterprise software, calling it foreseeable.
“If you discovered eight weeks ago that enterprise software was vulnerable to AI, you kind of weren't doing your job. This is this is knowable, and we're we're seeing, this technology shift”
Marks explains crisis investing requires pre-raised capital, nerve to deploy it, and clean portfolio to act.
“Nobody will give you money to invest during a crisis. We had pre raised it. And you have to have the nerve to spend it.”
Rowan says Athene's exposure to levered lending is 0.4% and software exposure is 0.1%.
“Our exposure to levered lending, which people sometimes call private credit is de minimis. Rounds closer zero than to 1% came in at 0.4%. Our exposure to software, 0.1%.”
Rowan says Apollo avoided single-asset AI bets, instead spreading across positions with structures creating convex upside and downside protection.
“We have spread across with the right structures and the right protections with the right risk reward to kind of create convex convex upsides while getting some amount of downside protection and some notion of our money back.”
Marks says investors must prepare for less optimistic times even while optimism drives markets higher.
“And part of that means with everything you do, some part of your body has to be saying, yes, but how do we prepare for less optimistic times?”
“That's the biggest problem with with running either massively levered long or massively levered short.”
Williams identifies structural friction between risk functions operating in review cycles and technologies operating in real time.
“We have risk functions that operate in review cycles, but technologies and business processes that operate in real time.”
Williams argues technology now actively shapes how risk managers perceive and interpret risk, not just manage it.
“This is the critical shift: We are no longer simply using technology to manage risk—we are using technology that is actively shaping how we perceive and interpret risk.”
Williams notes most non-centrally cleared bilateral repo transactions involving Treasury securities had zero haircuts according to OFR data.
“Meanwhile, in the NCCBR market segment, use of repo haircuts is fairly infrequent, with two pilot data collections in the NCCBR segment by the Office of Financial Research showing the majority of transactions involving Treasury securities had zero haircuts.”
Williams defines culture as an operational asset and backup system for judgment when data or models fail.
“Culture is not “soft,” or secondary. Culture is an operational asset. It is a form of resiliency, a non-technical redundancy, a backup system for judgment when data is incomplete, or the model is misleading.”
Williams asserts culture is an operational asset and form of resiliency, not soft or secondary.
“Culture is not “soft,” or secondary. Culture is an operational asset. It is a form of resiliency, a non-technical redundancy, a backup system for judgment”
Williams argues the next frontier of risk management is integration across functions, not deeper specialization.
“That’s why the next frontier of risk management is not deeper specialization. It’s integration: strategic, ethical, and operational coherence—across functions, levels, and tools.”