Philippe Laffont

Last updated
Philippe Laffont
Born
Belgium
EducationMassachusetts Institute of Technology
OccupationHedge fund manager
Known forFounder Coatue Management LLC
SpouseMarried
Website coatue.com

Philippe Laffont (born 1967) is a French hedge fund manager, investor, and philanthropist. [1] He is the founder and chief investment officer of Coatue Management, a global technology focused investment firm managing tens of billions of dollars in assets. [2] Laffont is known for his early investments in transformative technology companies and his roots as a "Tiger Cub” a term for alumni of Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management. [3]

Contents

Early life and education

Laffont was born in Belgium, grew up in France[ where? ] and later moved to the United States. He earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), graduating in 1991. [4]

Career

Early career

Laffont began his professional career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Madrid. He later joined Tiger Management as a research analyst in 1996, where he focused on telecommunications and technology investments. [5]

Coatue Management

In 1999, Laffont founded Coatue Management, named after a beach on Nantucket Island. The firm specializes in technology, media, and telecommunications sectors and operates in both public and private markets. [6] Under Laffont's leadership, Coatue has become one of the most prominent tech-focused hedge funds globally, with assets under management estimated to range from $25 billion to $46 billion. [7]

Coatue has invested in major public companies such as Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). [8] The firm is also active in venture capital, backing private companies including ByteDance, Snap, DoorDash, and OpenAI. [9]

References

  1. Vardi, Nathan. "The Hedge Fund Manager Who Became A Billionaire From Tech". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-08-11.
  2. "Philippe Laffont". CNBC. 2017-11-11. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  3. Armental, Maria (2025-06-12). "Coatue Management's Philippe Laffont Sees 2025 as 'Year of the Privates'". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  4. "Client Challenge". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  5. Lopez, Linette. "Tiger Cub Philippe Laffont On How To Get Hired At A Hedge Fund". Business Insider. Retrieved 2025-11-20.
  6. "Client Challenge". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  7. "Philippe Laffont". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
  8. Kim, Tae. "How $70 Billion Coatue Is Investing in AI Now". barrons. Retrieved 2026-01-26.
  9. Primack, Dan (2025-03-31). "OpenAI says it's worth $300 billion on heels of ChatGPT image generator". Axios. Retrieved 2026-01-26.