Why do some hedge funds have so many employees?

Hi everyone!

I recently googled how many employees Point72 has and was a bit startled: they have $22b AUM and 1,500 employees (of course, not all of them are HF analysts). 
However, I remembered that Wellington Management, a traditional investment management firm with $1 trillion, has 2,200 employees.

Of course, the premises and the clienteles of the two are very different and Wellington’s AUM is much less actively managed. But how come that 1,500 employees at Point72 manage 2.2% of what the 2,200 employees at Wellington manage AND, on average, probably get paid much more. Is there anything that I’m missing? 

11 Comments
 

You said it yourself: "Of course, the premises and the clienteles of the two are very different and Wellington's AUM is much less actively managed."

Actively managed funds like Point72 charge somewhere around 2 and 20 (maybe a bit less these days), whereas a passive manager charges a tiny fraction of that. I mean just look at Vanguard, they may have 7 trillion AUM, but a lot of that money is in their ETF's where the average expense ratio is 0.1%. 

"on average, probably get paid much more"... How do you know?

 

Literally is in their filings.

But...but...I thought HFs only cared about 13F-HRs?!?! What is this "prospectus" you speak of? Or...13D/G, Blue Sky, N1, 40-APP, 40-NT, etc etc. Or their SEDAR equivalents, or HMT FCA equivalents, etc.

The poster formerly known as theAudiophile. Just turned up to 11, like the stereo.
 

Multi managers are also more highly leveraged so their aum numbers are somewhat misleading

 

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