Paul Tudor Jones II (born September 28, 1954) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager. In 1980, he founded Tudor Investment Corporation, an asset management firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Eight years later, he co-founded the Robin Hood Foundation, which focuses on poverty reduction. As of July 2024, his net worth was estimated at US$8.1 billion.
Early life and education
Jones was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Paul Tudor Jones II's father John Paul "Jack" Jones practiced transportation law from an office located next door to The Daily News, a publication his family has owned and operated since 1886 and where Jack Jones was the publisher for 34 years. His half-brother is Peter Schutt.
Jones graduated from Presbyterian Day School, an all-boys elementary school, before attending Memphis University School for high school. Jones then went on to the University of Virginia where he was a welterweight boxing champion. While at the University of Virginia, Jones was president of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. To pay for tuition, Jones wrote for his family's paper under the pseudonym Paul Eagle.
Career
1976 New York Cotton Exchange
In 1976, after graduating from the University of Virginia Jones asked his cousin William Dunavant Jr. for an introduction to trading. Many years later, Jones served as treasurer in 1986 and then as chairman of the New York Cotton Exchange from August 1992 through June 1995.
1980–present: Tudor Investment Corporation
Jones' firm manages $12 billion (as of 2022). Their investment capabilities are broad and diverse, including global macro trading, fundamental equity investing in the U.S. and Europe, emerging markets, venture capital, commodities, event-driven strategies, and technical trading systems.
The Tudor Group, consisting of Tudor Investment Corporation and its affiliates, is involved in active trading, investing, and research in assets across fixed income, currencies, equities, and commodities asset classes and related derivative and other instruments in the global markets for an international clientele. The investment strategies of the Tudor Group include, among others, discretionary global macro, quantitative global macro (managed futures), discretionary equity long/short, quantitative equity market neutral and growth equity.
Fees – Although the hedge fund industry standard is two percent per annum of assets under management and twenty percent of the profits, Tudor Investment Corp. charges four percent per annum of assets under management and twenty-three percent of the profits.
1980 founding – In 1980, Jones founded Tudor Investment Corporation, an asset management firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. At the time, Jones was still a relatively unknown trader. Dunavant and Tullis were among Tudor's first clients. In one of Commodities Corporation's first external investments, Tudor was provided
Tudor (i.e. Jones) used his experience in trading cotton to branch into other commodities and financial instruments such as stock-index contracts and currency futures.
In 1987, betting on a crash in the United States stock market Jones' Tudor' returned 125.9 percent after fees, earning an estimated $100 million.
1990s – Tudor achieved greater liquidity and thereby flexibility through Jones' chairmanship of the NYCE's Finex subsidiary.
2000s – In 2014, the New York Times noted that returns for Tudor clients had "dimmed" over the decade The new company was named Castleton Commodities International, LLC.
Investment philosophy
Jones's global macro trading style is based primarily on technical analysis, as opposed to value investing, with an emphasis on momentum factors driving markets. In a 2000 interview, he suggested however that he regretted not being more involved with venture investing in technology firms during the 1990s. Jones also stated in 2020 that he owns bitcoin as a hedge against inflation.
Wealth
As of November 2019, Forbes estimated his net worth to be US$5.3 billion, making him the 343rd richest person on the Forbes 400 and the 7th highest-earning hedge fund manager.
In 2019, Tudor Jones and his wife joined the Giving Pledge, vowing to give most of their wealth to charitable causes. Upon joining, they said, "we were both raised in the Church," and cited several Bible references supporting the decision. Jones was ordered to pay $1 million fine and $1 million in restitution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and by pleading guilty avoided a possible one-year jail term for violating the Federal Clean Water Act. He chairs the organization's board, which includes Jimmy Buffett, Jack Nicklaus, David Lawrence Jr., Jon L. Mills, and William Wrigley Jr. II, among others.
In 2006, the New York Times described Jones as an "American conservationist" in reporting that in 2002, the Tanzanian government leased him the Grumeti reserve in Tanzania's western Serengeti.
Philanthropy
In 1986, after watching an episode of CBS News' 60 Minutes about businessman and philanthropist Eugene Lang, Jones adopted a sixth-grade class in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn at an underperforming public school. Jones guaranteed college scholarships to students that graduated from high school. In his 2009 speech, Jones explained that this major failure on his part taught him lessons he's applied in subsequent education efforts.
In 2009, Jones delivered a commencement speech at the Buckley School about his experiences with failure and comebacks. He talked about failing to get 86 underserved students into college despite expense and effort later helped him start one of the most successful charter schools in New York.
University of Virginia giving
thumb|Tudor Jones gave $44 million to his alma mater, the [[University of Virginia, for a sports and concert arena which the university named after his father. that attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York City.
Just Capital
He set up the nonprofit Just Capital to help Americans learn about companies that are considered "just". The organization uses data to discover which companies are most involved with the priorities Americans find most important. The nonprofit uses an annual, multi-phase survey to find out what these priorities are. Just Capital also operates a for profit ETF (exchange traded fund) comprising only companies believed to be "just".
Politics and associations
A political independent, Jones has donated money to numerous Democratic and Republican candidates. In 2012 he donated $200,000 to Mitt Romney. During the 2008 presidential election, Jones hosted a 500-person fundraiser at his Greenwich home for then-candidate Barack Obama. Jones also donated to John McCain and Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaigns. Jones donated $50,000 to Kathy Hochul in 2023.
Jones previously served as a director of the Futures Industry Association and was instrumental in the creation and development of an education-arm for the association—the then Futures Industry Institute, a research institute later renamed the Institute for Financial Markets based in Washington D.C. Mr. Jones was also an advocate for the design and implementation of the first ethics training course that became the standard for exchange membership on all futures exchanges in the United States.
Controversies
In June 2012, Jones was reportedly a key figure in the controversial ousting of University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan. He penned an editorial supporting her resignation, citing the school's poor academic rankings, low salary for staff and other perceived problems. On June 26, 2012, the University of Virginia Board of Visitors unanimously voted to reinstate Sullivan.
In 2013, the Washington Post posted a video to their site showing Jones at an April 2013 closed-door investment roundtable at the University of Virginia responding to a question on the lack of diversity on the panel. Jones answered "saying that having a baby hurts the ability of women to focus on macro trading, where investors seek to profit from global equity, bond, currency and commodities markets." The soundbite from Jones' five minute answer that received attention was: "As soon as that baby's lips touched that girl's bosom, forget it". which did not cease the criticism he received. Weinstein was convicted in 2020 and sentenced to 23 years for sexual assault. Jones distanced himself from Weinstein in a written statement, stating: "Harvey was a friend I believed too long and defended too long."
In the year before Jeffrey Epstein's death, Jones's hedge fund gave Epstein $13.5 million.
Reputation
In 1987, PBS produced a documentary entitled Trader which focused on Jones's activities. The film shows Jones as a young man predicting the 1987 crash, using methods similar to those of market forecaster Robert Prechter. Although the video was shown on public television in November 1987, Jones requested in the 1990s that the documentary be removed from circulation. The video has surfaced from time to time on different video sharing and torrent sites, but has often been taken down shortly thereafter due to copyright claims. Various theories exist as to why Jones does not support the film. Despite the film's showing a positive approach to risk and client care, as well as showcasing Jones's charity work, it has been suggested that the film may reveal trading secrets.
Having a low profile within financial media circles beginning in the late 1980s through to a report in 1997, Jones kept interviews with financial reporters to a minimum; while keeping a low profile in financial circles he was visible appearing on Larry King Live, promoting his Save Our Everglades campaign and the Robin Hood Foundation.
In 2019, Reuters has described Jones as "one of the giants" and reported that Jones is considered a legend among macro traders.
In 2008, he was inducted into Alpha magazine's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, George Soros, Jack Nash, James Simons, Julian Roberston, Kenneth Griffin, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Seth Klarman and Steven A. Cohen.
In 2019, he received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, presented by Awards Council member Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, during the International Achievement Summit in New York City.
Personal life
By the mid-1980s, Jones as reported by Institutional Investor magazine was "developing a reputation for courting models and partying long into the night" and the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page article referring to Jones as Quotron Man in a profile covering his lifestyle.