Clarium Capital

Clarium Capital Management LLC is an American investment management and hedge fund company pursuing a global macro strategy. Clarium was founded in San Francisco[5] in 2002 by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook.[6][1] Clarium's assets under management grew to $8 billion in 2008, after which a series of unprofitable investments and client redemptions resulted in its assets declining to between $300–400 million as of 2011.[7]

Clarium Capital
TypePrivate
IndustryInvestment management
FoundedSan Francisco, California, United States (2002 (2002))[1]
FounderPeter Thiel
Headquarters
W. R. Grace Building
New York City[2]
,
U.S.
AUMUS$681 million
Websiteclarium.com
Footnotes / references
[3][4]

Company
Inside the Clarium Capital office

Clarium is an employee-owned firm that invests in public equity (primarily in micro-cap companies), fixed income, and hedging markets. The company's activities were temporarily put on hold while Thiel worked at PayPal, and then activities resumed in 2002.[3]

Unlike most funds, which charge clients about a 2% management fee of their total assets invested and an additional 20% performance fee of the increase in the fund's net asset value, Clarium charges a 0% management fee and a performance fee of 25%.[6]

In 2008, the company moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City.[8] In June 2010 Thiel closed the New York office to consolidate the company and its employees into one location at its San Francisco office.[1]

History

Through a series of correct bets in the energy markets that global demand would cause an oil shortage, Clarium's 2002 performance was reported as "impressive."[9]

Performance 2008-2010

Clarium was down 4.5% in 2008,[10] down 25% in 2009,[11] and down 23% in 2010.[4] For the first half of 2008, the fund had a YTD return of 57.9%.[12] At the start of 2008, the fund had $4 billion in assets under management,[6] raised to $7.8 billion in June 2008, then dropped to $1.5 billion in July 2009, after investors withdrew money from the fund.[13]

The fund lost most of its value in 2008 due to large bets against the US dollar, in the hopes that it would drop in value. The fund subsequently lost 13% in August 2008 and it lost 18% in October 2008. Although the fund eventually recovered, with losses of only 4.5% for 2008 compared to the average of 20% for other hedge funds, most investors had already pulled out their investments.

Subsequent down years have reduced the fund's assets under management to $681 million as of December 2010.[4] Clarium Capital Management was reported to have had big losses in 2010.[14] The firm has continued to struggle with bets that it made on inflation and the US dollar.[6]

References
  1. Kishan, Saijel (Jan 12, 2011). "Clarium Hedge Fund Shrinks 90 percent as Thiel Has Third Losing Year". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  2. "Clarium Capital, New York". Google Maps.
  3. "Clarium Capital Management LLC". BusinessWeek. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  4. "Peter Thiel's Clarium Hedge Fund Falls 23% This Year"
  5. Clarium Capital on Google Maps
  6. "Thiel's Hedge Fund Plummet". New York Post. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
  7. Burton, Katherine (September 24, 2010). "Clarium's Thiel Says Dollar Is Undervalued as Deflationary Period Looms". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  8. Tate, Ryan. "Facebook Backer Peter Thiel Escapes New York". Gawker. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  9. Zuckerman, Gregory (September 28, 2009). "Pessimism Exacts a Price on the Skeptics". WSJ. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
  10. "Hedge Fund Portfolio Tracking: Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital, Q4 2008"
  11. "Thiel's Clarium Capital reportedly hurting"
  12. "Clarium hedge fund posts gains of 57.9 percent". Reuters. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  13. "The Quick Gutting of Peter Thiel's Clarium Capital" Archived July 8, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. Gawker. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
  14. Laing, Jon (May 21, 2011). "The Happy Warrior". Barron's. Retrieved 4 August 2011.

Further reading
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