Beating Buffett, Soros as world’s most successful moneymaker – The Wall Street Journal
It is not a name that is familiar to many people, Jim Simons. It is definitely not a face you would recognise when lined up with other investment giants like Warren Buffett and George Soros. Simons has been described by the Financial Times as an enigma and his hedge fund, Renaissance Technologies as "secretive", but he was the mathematician that launched the quant revolution, and using machines and algorithms became what the Wall Street Journal regards as "the most successful money maker in the history of modern finance." A book by Gregory Zuckerman, 'The Man who Solved the Market", reveals more about who Simons is and his philosophy that the more data you have; the better your predictions. Using quantitative analysis, Simons has outperformed the biggest names in the investment world with average annual returns after fees of a whopping 39% over three decades. And this from a mathematician that only "dabbled" in markets and a team that was initially branded as "flakes with ridiculous ideas." Added to that he did not care about business; but the chain smoker that is known for not wearing socks adopted an approach to remove emotion and instinct from the investment process and beat Buffett and Soros at their game. – Linda van Tilburg