Steve Cohen to retire from trading at hedge fund Point72

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Steve Cohen, the billionaire founder of US hedge fund Point72, is retiring from trading to focus on running the firm he founded a decade ago.

Cohen is “taking a break from trading his own book and feels he can have a greater impact by focusing on running the company, leading strategic initiatives and mentoring and coaching the next generation of talent,” Point72 said Tuesday.

Cohen, who also owns the New York Mets baseball team, will remain co-chief investment officer of the hedge fund alongside Harry Schwefel. The firm managed just over $35 billion and had more than 2,800 employees worldwide as of early July.

Cohen founded Point72 after his previous firm, SAC Capital, pleaded guilty to insider trading and paid $1.8 billion in fines. The US Securities and Exchange Commission banned him from managing other investors’ money for two years.

Since its launch, Point72 has become an investment behemoth in the top tier of so-called multi-manager hedge funds, competing with rivals such as Izzy Englander’s Millennium and Ken Griffin’s Citadel.

Unlike a traditional hedge fund that might trade one or two strategies in a single asset class, Point72 has hundreds of investment staff in 185 teams around the world, focusing on a variety of equity trading strategies , macro and computer based trading.

Point72 enjoyed a series of strong performances. The hedge fund was up 10 percent this year through the end of August, people who have seen the numbers said. It has also grown rapidly, nearly doubling since 2021 when it managed $20 billion.

A person familiar with the matter said that while Cohen is retiring from trading, he could return to manage a portfolio if he changes his mind in the future.

“It is a tremendous value to have Steve as an impact mentor for our investment professionals; he’s been doing this for 40 years and he’s seen a lot,” the company added.

Point72 has also explored voluntarily returning profits to investors for the first time, which could take place after the end of the year, although plans could change, a person familiar with the matter said. The firm has had preliminary discussions with investors about this possibility to help plan how to redeploy capital.

Large hedge funds often consider voluntarily returning capital to investors to prevent their funds from growing too large too quickly, as this can negatively impact performance.

In addition to Wall Street, Cohen has also become a fixture on the New York sports scene. He purchased the Mets in 2020 and recently sought approval for a proposed multibillion-dollar casino near the baseball team’s Citi Field stadium.

News of Cohen’s decision was first reported by Bloomberg.