D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P.

Overview

D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. is a multinational investment management firm known for its quantitative and computational approach to investment management. The firm manages a variety of investment funds that make extensive use of quantitative methods and proprietary computational technology to support fundamental research. It also uses qualitative analysis to make private equity investments in technology, wind power, real estate, financial services firms, and distressed company financing. D. E. Shaw & Co. has also provided private equity capital to technology-related business ventures. Examples include Juno Online Services, an Internet access provider, and Farsight, an online financial services platform that was acquired by Merrill Lynch. The company was founded by David E. Shaw, a former Columbia University computer science professor with a PhD from Stanford University. D. E. Shaw began investing in June 1989, having secured $28 million in capital from Donald Sussman's Paloma Partners and several private investors. The company carefully protected its proprietary trading algorithms. Many of its early employees were scientists, mathematicians, and computer programmers. In 2007, David Shaw sold a 20 percent stake to Lehman Brothers as part of a broader strategy to diversify his personal holdings; D. E. Shaw had $30 billion of assets under management in 2007. At the time of its bankruptcy in September 2008, Lehman Brothers' holdings in D. E. Shaw & Co. remained intact. In 2015, Hillspire, the family office of Google chairman Eric Schmidt, acquired the 20 percent passive ownership stake in D. E. Shaw & Co. from the bankruptcy estate of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Investment Focus

• Strong quantitative and computational capabilities
• Expertise in fundamental research
• Experience in private equity investments
• Proficiency in technology-related business ventures

Portfolio Companies