Cormac Kinney

Last updated
Cormac Kinney
Born
Cormac Kinney

(1971-06-18) June 18, 1971 (age 52)
St. Louis, Missouri
Nationality American
Education Carnegie Mellon University (BS and MS)
Occupations
  • Entrepreneur
  • Inventor
TitleFounder of Diamond Standard
Spouse
​
(m. 2000)​

Cormac Kinney is a serial entrepreneur, known for Diamond Standard, a regulator-approved fungible diamond commodity, [1] Heatmaps, [2] cited in 5,800 US Patents, [3] and a publisher social network [4] acquired by News Corp. [1]

Contents

Early life

Kinney grew up in University City, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, the oldest of six children. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering, earning a Bachelor of Science degree, and a Master of Science in 5 years, skipping one year of college, but leaving a Software Engineering degree uncompleted. [5]

He has lived in Manhattan, New York City since 1994, and is married to Mimi So, an influential jewelry designer. [6]

Career

As a student at Carnegie Mellon, Kinney founded two small software companies in succession, acquired by Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., and JD Edwards. Both were related to optimization. [7]

Heatmaps, NeoVision

In 1993, with Carnegie Mellon Senior Research Scientist, Marc Graham, Kinney founded NeoVision Hypersystems, Inc. [2] [8] to develop and market the Heat maps technology. The term "heat map" was coined by Kinney and trademarked in 1993, [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] but the trademark was unintentionally abandoned by its acquirer. [14]

As of January 2020, since 1993, Heat maps have been cited in over 5,550 patents granted by the US PTO, [3] and in 200,000 peer reviewed research papers. [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]

As developed by Neovision, Heat maps were a real time middleware and computation platform used to rapidly develop trading and risk management systems, featuring the first commercial application of heat maps. [20] Citibank was a key initial client, for which Kinney designed a risk management application for the global capital markets division in 1999. [21] Ultimately the Neovision technology was installed on over 100 institutional trading desks, and at Nasdaq and the DTC for monitoring $1.7 trillion in daily transactions. [20] [22] [23] [24] [25]

Distribution licenses were signed with Bloomberg L.P., Dow Jones Telerate, Thomson, and Reuters to install Heatmaps to over 300,000 desktops. [2] [22] [26] [27] The Nasdaq incorporated Heatmaps into the front page of www.nasdaq.com from 2001 through 2013. [28] [29]

In 2002, Kinney designed a trade cost analysis system for Fidelity Investments which was cited by The Wall Street Journal as "a sophisticated tracking system to see which brokers can execute trades most efficiently," and was credited with reducing the mutual-fund firm's trading costs by hundreds of millions of dollars per year, to half the industry average. [30] This system was installed at Bank of America Investment Management, Invesco, Janus, Merrill Lynch Investment Management and Putnam Investments.

Brian Barefoot, President of PaineWebber International, and former global head of sales and trading at Merrill Lynch joined NeoVision as CEO, and Deutsche Bank's COO joined the board of directors. [31] Subsequent to NeoVision, Barefoot became President of Babson College for seven years. [32]

Neovision raised $8 million from Deutsche Bank, Bear Stearns, Intel Corporation and venture capital investors. [33] [8] After a planned $30 million IPO fell through due to the dot com crash, [34] NeoVision was acquired in 2003 by The Carlyle Group and merged into financial software conglomerate SS&C Technologies. [35] Today the NeoVision technologies are incorporated into several SS&C products. [36]

Sentiment Strategies

After the sale of NeoVision, Kinney shifted his focus to quantitative trading, developing a computational linguistics based trading system, [37] which he used to manage hedge fund strategies at Amaranth Advisors, and Tudor Investment Corp. Subsequently, he launched Sentiment Strategies, a New York-based hedge fund consulting firm, additionally managing a $400 million portfolio for Millennium Management, [38] [39] and QuantFund LLC, a quantitative hedge fund. [40]

News Corp Social Network

In 2013, Kinney developed a social network for users for business news sites, based upon his design for a social graph to track the news consumption of a large number of readers. The system recommends articles to readers based on their profile and interests, and based on news discovered by peers sharing those interests. Rupert Murdoch of News Corp financed the development of the concept, simply named "Network," and agreed to implement Kinney's technology in The Wall Street Journal, [41] and other News Corp publications. News Corp announced the initiative as a LinkedIn competitor. [4] Kinney brought together a team of 70 staff from various News Corp and Wall Street Journal departments to build the technology. Network's recommendation and social features were a key element of the WSJ.com redesign, launched in 2015. [42] [43] Kinney intended Network to be used by a consortium of leading publishers, aggregating their reader's interests, to enable cross-publication recommendations. Although The New York Times , The Washington Post , Time, Inc., Forbes and other publishers expressed interest, News Corp decided to acquire Network in order to keep it exclusive to its own publications. [1]

Flont

In 2016, Kinney launched Flont, a platform to introduce designer fine jewelry into the sharing economy. [44] Flont provides fine jewelry as a service, [2] [45] in partnership with over 40 brands. [46] A software developer and jewelry retailer, it enables high-touch sales via E-commerce, delivering jewelry to consumers on demand. Flont provides software and logistics services to global jewelry brands, department stores and jewelry retailers for their own sharing services. [47] [48]

In 2018, Chow Tai Fook, the largest jewelry retailer in Asia with a market cap of HK$106 billion, announced a joint venture with Flont, to open up to 500 locations in China, inside Chow Tai Fook retail stores. [49] [50]

Diamond Standard Co.

In June 2019, Kinney launched Diamond Standard, the producer of the first regulator approved, fungible natural diamond commodity, [1] [51] [52] [53] which is delivered as a coin or a bar, and traded as a regulator-approved digital token. [54] The Diamond Standard commodities are the underlying spot asset for a futures contract being listed on the CME [55] and an ETF being listed on the NYSE, subject to regulatory approvals. [1]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodity market</span> Physical or virtual transactions of buying and selling involving raw or primary commodities

A commodity market is a market that trades in the primary economic sector rather than manufactured products, such as cocoa, fruit and sugar. Hard commodities are mined, such as gold and oil. Futures contracts are the oldest way of investing in commodities. Commodity markets can include physical trading and derivatives trading using spot prices, forwards, futures, and options on futures. Farmers have used a simple form of derivative trading in the commodity market for centuries for price risk management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SoftBank Group</span> Japanese investment holding company

SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a multitude of markets and industries ranging from the internet to automation. With over $100 billion in capital at its onset, SoftBank's Vision Fund is the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund. Fund investors included sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.

TradeStation Group, Inc. is the parent company of online securities and futures brokerage firms and trading technology companies. It is headquartered in Plantation, Florida, and has offices in New York; Chicago; Richardson, Texas; London; Sydney; and Costa Rica. TradeStation is best known for the technical analysis software and electronic trading platform it provides to active traders and certain institutional trader markets. TradeStation Group was a Nasdaq GS-listed company from 1997 to 2011, until it was acquired by Monex Group, a Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed parent company of one of Japan's leading online securities brokerage firms.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund that is also an exchange-traded product, i.e., it is traded on stock exchanges. ETFs own financial assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, debts, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars. The list of assets that each ETF owns, as well as their weightings, is posted on the website of the issuer daily, or quarterly in the case of active non-transparent ETFs. Many ETFs provide some level of diversification compared to owning an individual stock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasdaq, Inc.</span> American multinational financial services corporation

Nasdaq, Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation that owns and operates three stock exchanges in the United States: the namesake Nasdaq stock exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and the Boston Stock Exchange, and seven European stock exchanges: Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland, Nasdaq Riga, Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq Tallinn, and Nasdaq Vilnius. It is headquartered in New York City, and its president and chief executive officer is Adena Friedman.

Markel Group Inc. is a group of companies headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, and originally founded in 1930 as an insurance company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heat map</span> Data visualization technique

A heat map is a 2-dimensional data visualization technique that represents the magnitude of individual values within a dataset as a color. The variation in color may be by hue or intensity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silver as an investment</span> Precious metal as a store of value

Silver may be used as an investment like other precious metals. It has been regarded as a form of money and store of value for more than 4,000 years, although it lost its role as legal tender in developed countries when the use of the silver standard came to an end in 1935. Some countries mint bullion and collector coins, however, such as the American Silver Eagle with nominal face values. In 2009, the main demand for silver was for industrial applications (40%), jewellery, bullion coins, and exchange-traded products. In 2011, the global silver reserves amounted to 530,000 tonnes.

State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) is the investment management division of State Street Corporation and the world's fourth largest asset manager, with nearly $4.14 trillion (USD) in assets under management as of 31 December 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ETF Securities</span> Australian asset management firm

ETF Securities is an asset management firm that issues exchange-traded funds (ETFs) primarily in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diamonds as an investment</span>

Diamonds were largely inaccessible to investors until the recent advent of regulated commodities, due to a lack of price discovery and transparency. The characteristics of individual diamonds, especially the carat weight, color and clarity, have significant impact on values, but transactions were always private. With the standardized commodity as an underlying asset, several market traded financial instruments have been announced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodities Corporation</span> US financial services company

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intercontinental Exchange</span> American exchange and clearing house company

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russell 1000, the company owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets, and operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces. This includes ICE futures exchanges in the United States, Canada, and Europe; the Liffe futures exchanges in Europe; the New York Stock Exchange; equity options exchanges; and OTC energy, credit, and equity markets.

Markit was a British financial information and services company with over 4,000 employees, founded in 2003 as an independent source of credit derivative pricing. The company provides independent data, trade processing of derivatives, foreign exchange and loans, customised technology platforms and managed services. The company aims to enhance transparency, reduce financial risk and improve operational efficiency. Its client base includes institutional participants in the financial marketplace. On 12 July 2016, Markit and IHS Inc. merged in an all-stock merger of equals to form IHS Markit. IHS Markit later merged with S&P Global on 28 February 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Electronic trading platform</span> Software for trading financial products

In finance, an electronic trading platform also known as an online trading platform, is a computer software program that can be used to place orders for financial products over a network with a financial intermediary. Various financial products can be traded by the trading platform, over a communication network with a financial intermediary or directly between the participants or members of the trading platform. This includes products such as stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, derivatives and others, with a financial intermediary such as brokers, market makers, Investment banks or stock exchanges. Such platforms allow electronic trading to be carried out by users from any location and are in contrast to traditional floor trading using open outcry and telephone-based trading. Sometimes the term trading platform is also used in reference to the trading software alone.

High-frequency trading (HFT) is a type of algorithmic trading in finance characterized by high speeds, high turnover rates, and high order-to-trade ratios that leverages high-frequency financial data and electronic trading tools. While there is no single definition of HFT, among its key attributes are highly sophisticated algorithms, co-location, and very short-term investment horizons in trading securities. HFT uses proprietary trading strategies carried out by computers to move in and out of positions in seconds or fractions of a second.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Invesco PowerShares</span>

Invesco PowerShares is an American boutique investment management firm based near Chicago which manages a family of exchange-traded funds or ETFs. The company has been part of Invesco, which markets the PowerShares product, since 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SimCorp</span> Danish company

SimCorp A/S is a Danish company providing software and services to financial institutions such as asset managers, banks, central banks, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies worldwide. Founded in 1971, it has over 3000 employees.

Diamond Standard is the producer of an exchange traded, regulated diamond commodity. Equivalent to a standard gold bar for the diamond market, the diamond coin and bar enables investors to access an estimated $1.2 trillion asset class for the first time. Futures contracts are in development by CFTC-licensees, and an investment trust launched in 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ramkumar, Amrith (2020-09-21). "Easy Diamond Trading Set to Be Available for First Time". The Wall Street Journal.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Sansoni, Silvia (1999-05-17). "Hot Stuff". Forbes Magazine.
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  4. 1 2 Robertson, David (May 29, 2013). "News Corp Poised to Challenge LinkedIn". The Times.
  5. 1 2 Tascarella, Patty (1994-11-14). "Software Charting Allows Real Time Risk Management". Pittsburgh Business Times.
  6. ↑ Carniol, Amy (2011-11-01). "NYC Family Portrait: The So-Kinneys". TimeOut.com.
  7. ↑ O'Reilly, Brian (1994-05-02). "The New Face of Small Business". Fortune Magazine.
  8. 1 2 Pofeldt, Elaine (Jan 2000). "Six Degrees of Capitalization". Success Magazine.
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  13. ↑ Yoe, Charles (2019-01-30). Principles of Risk Analysis. CRC Press. ISBN   9780429664892.
  14. ↑ Silhavy R, Senkerik R, Oplatkova ZK, Silhavy P, Prokopova Z (2016-04-26). Software Engineering Perspectives and Application in Intelligent Systems. ISBN   978-3-319-33622-0.
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  20. 1 2 Morrison, Dianne (1995-11-27). "A Picture is Worth A Thousand Numbers". Waters Magazine.
  21. ↑ "NeoVision founder and chairman Cormac Kinney began marketing HeatMaps to Wall Street traders five years ago. NeoVision developed a risk management application for Citibank global capital markets group in 1999". Risk Magazine. 14: 573. 2001-07-01.
  22. 1 2 "Brokermaps at PaineWebber". Inside Market Data. July 8, 2002. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  23. ↑ Sales, Robert (1998-10-10). "Strike Teams Up with NeoVision". Inside Market Data.
  24. ↑ "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words". Waters Magazine. Sep 1, 2003.
  25. ↑ "National Securities Clearing and Depository Trust & Clearing Corporations Select NeoVision Heatmaps". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  26. ↑ "NeoVision Announces Licensing Agreement with Bridge Information Systems". Nov 16, 2003. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2012.
  27. ↑ "Bloomberg Licenses Heatmaps for 95000 Users". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  28. ↑ "Intel Corp announcement of webHeatmaps on Nasdaq.com". Intel Press Announcements.
  29. ↑ Grimes, Seth (2008-10-22). "Heatmap Visualizations: the NY Times and NASDAQ". InformationWeek.com.
  30. ↑ John Hechinger, Kate Kelly (October 12, 2004). "How Fidelity's Trading Chief Pinches Pennies on Wall Street". The Wall Street Journal.
  31. ↑ "Deutsche Bank Announcement". Deutsche Bank. Mar 14, 2001.
  32. ↑ "Biography of Brian Barefoot". BusinessWeek.[ dead link ]
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  34. ↑ "New York Co Plans IPO". Corporate Financing Week. Oct 19, 1999. Archived from the original on 2016-03-09.
  35. ↑ "SS&C Acquires trade visualization firm NeoVision". 19 February 2004.
  36. ↑ "SS&C Website page for Heatmaps". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2012-11-18.
  37. ↑ Davidse, Kristin (2014-08-15). Recent Advances in Corpus Linguistics. p. 202. ISBN   9789401211130.
  38. ↑ "Cormac Kinney Bio". SALT. March 19, 2019.
  39. ↑ "Sentiment Strategies Management Bio".
  40. ↑ "QuantFund Website".
  41. ↑ Dave, Paresh (May 30, 2013). "The Wall Street Journal To Launch a Financial Social Network". Los Angeles Times.
  42. ↑ Edge, Abigail (April 16, 2015). "The Wall Street Journal to launch first site redesign in 7 years". Journalism.co.uk.
  43. ↑ Lichterman, Joseph (April 21, 2015). "After the launch of its long-awaited web redesign, The Wall Street Journal hopes to spur innovation". Nieman Lab.
  44. ↑ "High-End Shopping In The Sharing Economy: Now We Can All Have Couture". Fast Company. Sep 15, 2016.
  45. ↑ "Flont.Club Dresses San Francisco Society in Style". Vogue.Com. 13 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-13.
  46. ↑ "Jewelry as a Service Start-Up Raises $5M". NationalJeweler.com. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  47. ↑ "Flont Strives to Shake Up High-End Jewelry With Sharing Model". WWD.com - Women's Wear Daily. 14 March 2017. Retrieved 2017-03-17.
  48. ↑ Samaha, Barry (2017-07-23). "Flont Is Changing How to Buy Fine Jewelry Online". Forbes Magazine.
  49. ↑ Chen, Cathleen (2018-05-23). "Adrian Cheng Plans China Rollout for Flont, Moda Operandi". Business of Fashion.
  50. ↑ Rapp, Jessica (2018-11-12). "What Adrian Cheng's New Investments Tell Us About Chinese Millennials". Jing Daily.
  51. ↑ "Diamond Standard launches world's first fungible diamond commodity". Fox Business. 2019-06-26.
  52. ↑ Steel, Alix. "The CEO Hoping to Turn Diamonds into gold". Bloomberg Commodities Edge. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  53. ↑ Claman, Liz. "Diamond Standard launches world's first fungible diamond commodity". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2019-06-26.
  54. ↑ "Bermuda Monetary Authority list of Licensed Entities".
  55. ↑ "Miami International Holdings Completes Investment in Diamond Standard; Parties to Develop Diamond-Based Derivatives Products" (PDF). 2020-09-28.
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