Ray Dalio announced Tuesday he’s ceding control of Bridgewater Associates, 47 years after he founded the hedge fund that’s become the world’s largest.
In a series of Tweets, Dalio said it’s a “very special day” for him and the Westport, Connecticut-based hedge fund.
“I transitioned my control of Bridgewater to the next generation and I feel great about the people and ‘machine’ now in control,” said Dalio, 73. “This transition moment is the culmination of a 47-year journey.
In an interview with Bloomberg, he said his decision to step away “was the natural progression of events.”
He will keep his seat on the board with the new title of founder and CIO mentor.
Dalio, a former Wall Street trader, said in his posts on Twitter he started Bridgewater with two others in his two-bedroom apartment. Bridgewater is now a “multi-generation institution” with 1,300 people, he said.
“I can now visualize it doing great things for generations w/ out me,” he said. “That’s as good as it gets.”
Dalio said Bridgewater’s new leaders are co-Chief Investment Officers Bob Prince and Greg Jensen, who are in charge of investments” and co-Chief Executive Officers Nir Bar Dea and Mark Bertolini, who will lead the business aspects of Bridgewater, he said.
Bridgewater Associates, with assets under management of about $150 billion, announced in January that Bertolini, former chief executive officer of Aetna, was the new co-CEO. He was co-chair of Bridgewater’s Operating Board of Directors and served as co-CEO with Bar Dea, a retired major and a platoon leader in the Israeli Defense Forces.
In a note to Bridgewater staff, Bar Dea and Bertolini said it’s difficult to “overstate the importance of this moment for Bridgewater and Ray.”
“Ray founded Bridgewater 47 years ago and, over a decade ago, set out on this journey to transition it,” they said.
Dalio uses LinkedIn to communicate to his 2.5 million followers his thoughts on business principles, the global economy, social issues and other topics. Dalio, whose net worth is pegged by Forbes at $19.1 billion, has criticized the economic system’s shortcomings, particularly its inability to reduce inequality.
He helped Connecticut obtain personal protective equipment from China in a deal he and other businessmen brokered that resulted in a shipment of N95 masks, surgical gowns and infrared thermometers.
Bridgewater received $22 million in forgivable state loans and grants in 2016 to create 750 jobs and keep the 1,402 positions it then had. The money was to be used to renovate and expand the firm’s Westport headquarters and operations in Wilton and Norwalk.
Bridgewater has so far been forgiven $10.8 million of a $17 million loan, with a balance of about $6.2 million, according to the state Department of Economic and Community Development. The hedge fund received $5 million in grants and was allocated up to $30 million in Urban and Industrial Site Reinvestment Tax Credits that must be earned over 10 years.
