Elliott Activist Investing
Which funds do these guys typically recruit from for analyst positions? How do they stack up against other top tier hedge funds in terms of compensation, reputation, culture, overall experience?
Understand few people on here will have good insights into this given how closed off they are, but worth a shot! Thanks.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, Elliott Management is considered one of the top-tier activist hedge funds, known for its strong reputation and high standards. Here's what you need to know:
Recruiting Sources:
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Reputation:
Culture and Experience:
In summary, Elliott Management stands out for its elite recruiting standards, top-tier compensation, and strong reputation in the activist investing space. However, the culture is demanding, and the experience is best suited for those who thrive under pressure and are committed to excelling in a competitive environment.
If you have to ask, don’t worry.
I fucking hate idiots like this
There was a day where guys who work at Elliot had no clue what activism was
To answer the question, they hire people who come from top IB&PE backgrounds
👍
Elliott ****
Thanks for the helpful response. What’s the point of this forum if not for asking questions that others may have more information about?
Paul Singer will break your neck off if you ask this garbage question.
They interview more widely (MF/MM PE) than you’d think given I think it has become a somewhat less desirable seat due to a combo of sweatiness, siloing into narrow verticals covered by specific PMs, lack of upward mobility (crowded), and then the comp, while nothing to sneeze at, doesn’t really have the home run potential for an up and coming guy like leaner funds or pods, hence there’s been more churn in the last five years ish. Would also advise you to think long and hard about whether you want to spend your career in that type of activism. At Elliott’s size there’s a pretty limited number of targets especially after you split up into narrow verticals. The trend of fewer companies being public today doesn’t help either (which is partly a problem Elliott drives; who wants the stress of getting their career ruined because some activist took a position). And on the distressed side there are fewer huge freefall BKs where you can take a position of a size meaningful to Elliott; everyone has gotten wiser about how value destructive those are for all involved and issuers have become very sophisticated at playing creditors against each other. Finally, Elliott’s style of investing (and activism generally to a degree) is very close to PE in terms of what you do day to day - super long ppt IC decks, extremely deep research into various operational issues, loads of modeling, minimal support, etc. It’s not the type of hedge fund you leave your MF for because you “like investing” but “don’t enjoy the process work.” This is especially true now that they have basically merged a lot of the public and private work so you might literally end up back on PE deals just this time with way more to do because the deal team will be even leaner than it was in PE (know a couple guys who worked on multi B take privates and deal team was basically 2 people including the PM; suffice to say they did not sleep). Elliott is great at what they do, they’ve run some cool/smart situations and you’ll learn a lot but know what you’re getting into.
sounds like banking 3.0 (pe 2.0) in terms of wlb and process-oriented work compared to pod investing (which is more like trading)
more like banking squared
banking 3.0 😆😂🤣
Really helpful color. Thank you!
Not surprising. Hence all the recent departures in the past few years.
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-elliott-alums-are-launching-their-o…
I would add that in the past few years you see Elliott involved in more and more activist situations and the quality of their activist theses is clearly declining (on average). It feels like they are now managing more capital than they know what do to with, and they are less discriminating in the situations they pursue.
L
Not even in your dreams Corp Dev
Guy above hit the nail on the head. It’s a pretty shit place to work at now. No upward mobility - all the PM seats are filled and they ain’t going anywhere. Activism is a mediocre strategy - it’s a shit ton of work because of the reputational risk, there’s huge concentration risk, at Elliott’s size the type of companies you can go for are smaller, and a lot of the big companies are more ruthless / don’t give a shit about Elliott in their register as much. Comp at Elliott isn’t even that good versus other SMs. It’s a fucking fascinating place with solid process but as a guy who wants to chill out a little after PE and make millions, I rather trade stonks at some other SM and then go to citadel to swing before blowing up.
What other SMs are chiller?
Yes to all, well said. Activism’s best days are behind it. If you want to make real money you have to raise your own and pure activism is too crowded in the US and ineffective in most non-US jurisdictions. Even those who manage to launch their own (i.e. Irenic) have to give away massive economics to a seeder. And that’s even after considering funds like the aforementioned aren’t pure public equity activists either. It’s a tough strategy with its best days far behind it. Source: me, an idiot trying to make money in the strategy despite knowing all of the above.
Agree. I mean, when's the last time Third Point didn't have an underwhelming year?
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