Willett Advisors

Last updated

Willett Advisors LLC
Company type Limited liability company
Industry Family office
Founded2010;14 years ago (2010)
Founder
Headquarters650 Madison Avenue, New York City, New York, US
Key people
 Steven Rattner (Chairman & CEO)
Andrew Mulderry (CIO) [1]
AUM US$25 billion (2020) [2]
Website willettadvisors.com
Footnotes /references
[3]

Willett Advisors LLC (Willett) is an investment firm based in New York City that serves as the family office of Bloomberg L.P. owner and former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. It is currently managed by Quadrangle Group co-founder Steven Rattner.

Contents

Background

In January 2008, it was reported that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's extensive business interests were placed in "a sort of blind trust" with the Quadrangle Group, an investment group owned by his longtime friend Steven Rattner. This was speculated to be done because of Bloomberg's possible run for the presidency. Bloomberg would continue to have control of and access to certain investment decisions. In February 2009, when Rattner left Quadrangle to serve as leader advisor on the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler for the Obama administration, a report said Quadrangle would continue with its responsibilities for Bloomberg. [4] [5] [6]

In February 2010, Bloomberg decided to form his own investment firm, Willett Advisors, which would be devoted solely to his interest and that of his charitable foundation. He then moved his fortune of $5 billion with Quadrangle into Willett. The relocation of his fortune was speculated to fund his future presidential run by being able to take bigger risks with investments. In April that year, it was reported that Rattner who had left the government in July 2009 was chosen to run and build Willett. Joining Rattner were twenty employees. Alice Ruth who had served as CIO of Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation was chosen to be CIO of Willett. The firm was based at the Stuyvesant Fish House alongside Bloomberg Philanthropies, but as of 2023, is located at 650 Madison Avenue. [7] [8] [6] [9] [10] [11] [12]

In March 2017, Ruth stepped down from the position of CIO and was replaced by Brad Briner and Andrew Mulderry who would take over the public and private market investments respectively. Under her, Willett had largely invested with outside money managers, doing business with more than 100 of them in the previous year. Willett had recently started making some co-investments with its managers and finding its own deals as it was concerned over high fees and believed it could find attractive investments by itself. [13]

In February 2020, The Intercept reported that Willet has invested in oil and gas and it had invested in White Star Petroleum, a fracking firm that filed for bankruptcy protection. It also reported that Willet has invested through corporate entities with opaque names such as "10413 Investment Holdings LLC" and "20213 Investment Holdings," with no information about how the funds are used. Sycamore Partners had raised $136 million from three Bloomberg wealth funds associated with Willett Advisors. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Stanley</span> American financial services company

Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the firm's clients include corporations, governments, institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley ranked No. 61 in the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue and in the same year ranked #30 in Forbes Global 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citigroup</span> American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation

Citigroup Inc. or Citi is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of Citicorp, the bank holding company for Citibank, and Travelers in 1998; Travelers was spun off from the company in 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lazard</span> American investment bank

Lazard Inc. is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's largest independent investment bank, with principal executive offices in New York City, Paris and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bear Stearns</span> American investment bank

The Bear Stearns Companies, Inc. was an American investment bank, securities trading, and brokerage firm that failed in 2008 as part of the global financial crisis and recession. After its closure it was subsequently sold to JPMorgan Chase. The company's main business areas before its failure were capital markets, investment banking, wealth management, and global clearing services, and it was heavily involved in the subprime mortgage crisis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TPG Inc.</span> American investment company

TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American private equity firm based in Fort Worth, Texas. TPG manages investment funds in growth capital, venture capital, public equity, and debt investments. The firm invests in a range of industries including consumer/retail, media and telecommunications, industrials, technology, travel, leisure, and health care. TPG became a public company in In January 2022, trading on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “TPG”.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Rattner</span> American investor and auto industry adviser to President Obama (1952-)

Steven Lawrence Rattner is an American investor, media commentator, and former journalist. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Willett Advisors, the private investment firm that manages billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg's personal and philanthropic assets. He began his career as an economic reporter for The New York Times before moving to a career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, and Lazard Freres & Co., where he rose to deputy chairman and deputy chief executive officer. He then became a managing principal of the Quadrangle Group, a private equity investment firm that specialized in the media and communications industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PIMCO</span> US global investment management firm

Pacific Investment Management Company LLC is an American investment management firm focusing on active fixed income management worldwide. PIMCO manages investments in many asset classes such as fixed income, equities, commodities, asset allocation, ETFs, hedge funds, and private equity. PIMCO is one of the largest investment managers, actively managing more than $2 trillion in assets for central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, corporations, foundations and endowments, and individual investors around the world. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, PIMCO is the 6th-largest asset manager in the world by managed AUM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BlackRock</span> American investment company

BlackRock, Inc. is an American multinational investment company. It is the world's largest asset manager, with $10 trillion in assets under management as of December 31, 2023. Headquartered in New York City, BlackRock has 78 offices in 38 countries, and clients in 100 countries. BlackRock is the manager of the iShares group of exchange-traded funds, and along with The Vanguard Group and State Street, it is considered to be one of the Big Three index fund managers. Its Aladdin software keeps track of investment portfolios for many major financial institutions and its BlackRock Solutions division provides financial risk management services. The head of Aladdin is Sudhir Nair. As of 2023, BlackRock was ranked 229th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York Life Insurance Company</span> American life insurance company

New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company and the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States, and is ranked #71 on the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue. In 2023, NYLIC achieved the best possible ratings by the four independent rating companies. Other New York Life affiliates provide an array of securities products and services, as well as institutional and retail mutual funds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bridgewater Associates</span> U.S. based investment management firm

Bridgewater Associates, LP is an American investment management firm founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. The firm serves institutional clients including pension funds, endowments, foundations, foreign governments, and central banks. As of 2022, Bridgewater has posted the second highest gains of any hedge fund since its inception in 1975. The firm began as an institutional investment advisory service, graduated to institutional investing, and pioneered the risk parity investment approach in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Citadel LLC</span> American hedge fund and financial services provider

Citadel LLC is an American multinational hedge fund and financial services company. Founded in 1990 by Ken Griffin, it has more than $58 billion in assets under management as of January 2024. The company has over 2,800 employees, with corporate headquarters in Miami, Florida, and offices throughout North America, Asia, and Europe. Founder, CEO and Co-CIO Griffin owns approximately 85% of the firm. As of December 2022, Citadel is of the most profitable hedge funds in the world, posting $74 billion in net gains since its inception in 1990, making it the most successful hedge fund in history, according to CNBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perella Weinberg Partners</span> U.S.-based financial services firm

Perella Weinberg Partners L.P. is an American global financial services firm focused on investment banking advisory services.

Silver Lake, legally Silver Lake Technology Management, L.L.C., is an American global private equity firm focused on technology and technology-enabled investments. Silver Lake is headquartered in Silicon Valley and New York, and has offices in London, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Dalio</span> American investor and hedge fund manager (born 1949)

Raymond Thomas Dalio is an American investor and hedge fund manager, who has served as co-chief investment officer of the world's largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, since 1985. He founded Bridgewater in 1975 in New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TPG Angelo Gordon</span> American investment management company

TPG Angelo Gordon is a global alternative investment manager founded in 1988 by John Angelo and Michael Gordon who together ran the arbitrage department of L.F. Rothschild in the 1980s. The firm focuses on four main investment disciplines: credit, real estate, private equity, and multi-strategy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thierry Magon de La Villehuchet</span> French businessman

René-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet was a French aristocrat, money manager, and businessman. He was one of the founders of Access International Advisors, a company caught and subsumed in the Madoff investment scandal in 2008. He died by suicide after losing an estimated $1.4 billion in Madoff's scheme.

Quadrangle Group LLC is a private investment firm focused on private equity. The firm invests in middle-market companies within the media, communications and information-based sectors.

Leon G. Cooperman is an American billionaire investor and hedge fund manager. He is the chairman and CEO of Omega Advisors, a New York-based investment advisory firm managing over $3.3 billion in assets under management, the majority consisting of his personal wealth.

Scott Bessent is an American investor, philanthropist, and educator. He is the founder of Key Square Group, a global macro investment firm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millennium Management, LLC</span> American hedge fund

Millennium Management is an investment management firm with a multistrategy hedge fund offering. In 2023, it was one of the world's largest alternative asset management firms with over $61.1 billion assets under management as of January 2024. The firm operates in America, Europe and Asia. As of 2022, Millennium had posted the fourth highest net gains of any hedge fund since its inception in 1989.

References

  1. ↑ "Willett Advisors CIO Joins National Board". The Posse Foundation. March 5, 2024.
  2. ↑ Goldstein, Alexis (June 16, 2021). "25 Richest Americans Pay Few Taxes — Partly Thanks to the "Family Fund" Loophole". Truthout.
  3. ↑ "Willett Advisors (Willett Advisors) - Family Office, United States - SWFI". www.swfinstitute.org.
  4. ↑ Sorkin, Andrew Ross (January 16, 2008). "Bloomberg Chooses a Friend to Manage His Fortune". The New York Times. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  5. ↑ Sorkin, Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross (February 23, 2009). "Rattner to Serve as Lead Adviser on Auto Bailout". DealBook. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Massing, Michael (February 21, 2020). "How Bloomberg's Money Manager Steven Rattner Shills for His Boss". The Intercept. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  7. ↑ Hughes, C.J. (June 12, 2023). "Plaza District shaken by the downgrade of debt behind Vornado tower". Crain's New York.
  8. ↑ "Willett Advisors LLC Securities and Exchange Commission Filing" (PDF). SEC Database. July 16, 2014.
  9. ↑ Barbaro, Michael (April 21, 2010). "Bloomberg Said to Rely on Financier Under Fire". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  10. ↑ Story, Louise; Barbaro, Michael (February 20, 2010). "Bloomberg Shifts $5 Billion Out of Friend's Firm". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  11. ↑ Hughes, Zoe (January 5, 2013). "Quadrangle's Rattner, Margolis surface at Willett Advisors". Private Equity International. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  12. ↑ Lattman, Peter (October 15, 2010). "What It Means to Manage the Mayor's Money". DealBook. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  13. ↑ Chung, Juliet (March 7, 2017). "Michael Bloomberg's Money Manager Steps Down". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved November 25, 2023.
  14. ↑ Fang, Lee (February 24, 2020). "Bloomberg's Investment Portfolio Includes Bets on Private Equity, Fracking". The Intercept. Retrieved November 25, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.