The company has made rapid investments in startups for years, driving valuations up in some cases, but returns took a hit when the market suddenly turned.
Global tiger management Going through a major administrative change. According to a letter from founder Chase Coleman sent this afternoon to the 22-year-old firm’s limited partners, Coleman is taking over management of both the company’s public investments and private equity businesses, while the latter’s longtime boss, Scott Schleifer, becomes a senior officer. Counselor effective Jan. 1, a full-time position with no end date, according to a source with knowledge of the maneuver.
Tiger’s private equity business was previously headed by Lee Fixel, an active venture capitalist and hedge fund investor who resigned to hang up his own shingle in March of 2019. Fixel subsequently raised a number of multi-billion-dollar investment funds at that firm. . It’s called addition.
At that time, Schleifer and Coleman continued as co-managers of the portfolios that Fixel oversaw, with Schleifer serving as its president. But he took control in what later appears to have been a treacherous period for the company. After announcing in January 2020 that Tiger Global had secured $3.75 billion in commitments for its 12th fund, Schleifer exercised restraint, overseeing a process that made bold bets at a breakneck clip despite already hot valuations. For a time, investors were so happy with the strategy — which seemed to be working — that they gave Tiger a massive $12.7 billion vehicle that closed in March 2022 after just four months of fundraising.
The fund’s timing couldn’t be worse. Because of rising interest rates, public, then private, the broader market began to decline rapidly, and with it, Tiger Papers largely made a comeback. In fact, although the firm began marketing its newest fund, Private Investment Partners Fund 16, to investors 13 months ago, with a target of $6 billion, it has yet to close, according to a source.
As previously reported by Bloomberg, a surge in AI-related public stocks has helped fuel Tiger’s recovery this year; One source says it saw positive returns all year. Meanwhile, an early bet on OpenAI that looked a week ago could help save the company’s returns in the private market is now in jeopardy, with ousted CEO Sam Altman reportedly in discussions to join OpenAI investor Microsoft and move much of the OpenAI team to… Giant company. Folds.
Per Coleman’s message to investors: Shleifer will continue to “Providing advice on our investment activities via Expanding the reach of our private funds.” As part of the transformation, Tiger Global is also “forming an investment committee for our private equity business,
“Which I will chair, consisting of Evan Feinberg, Eric Lin, Griffin Schroeder, and Scott, will support me in reviewing new investments and overseeing asset dispositions.”
This story is evolving.