Long before BlackRock became the world's largest asset manager, its founders were building the tools they needed to understand risk in their own portfolios, often starting from something as modest as a spreadsheet. As the firm grew, that technology…

Few people have shaped modern finance as profoundly as Lew Ranieri. Starting in the mailroom at Salomon Brothers, he rose to lead the firm's mortgage trading operation in the late 1970s and 1980s, where he helped pioneer the mortgage-backed security,…

Few people have shaped modern finance as profoundly as Lew Ranieri. Starting in the mailroom at Salomon Brothers, he rose to lead the firm's mortgage trading operation in the late 1970s and 1980s, where he helped pioneer the mortgage-backed security,…

Long before he founded Starboard Value and became one of the most formidable activist investors on Wall Street, Jeff Smith got a phone call that sent his career in an unexpected direction: an offer to help run a fresh-squeezed orange juice company.…

For most investors, risk is measured in basis points and drawdowns. For Mark Mobius, it often meant something far more personal. Over a career spent pioneering emerging markets investing, Mobius traveled relentlessly to countries most investors never…

On Saturday, October 6, 1979, Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker called a rare weekend press conference and announced a dramatic shift in how the Fed would fight runaway inflation. The move, later nicknamed the "Saturday Night Special," sent…

In 2016, Google DeepMind's AlphaGo defeated Lee Sedol, one of the world's top players of Go, an ancient board game long considered too complex and intuitive for computers to master. For many in finance, the moment raised an unsettling question: if…

When Glenn Hutchins co-founded Silver Lake in 1999, the dot-com boom was at its peak and the money was chasing flashy startups. Silver Lake took a different path, building the first large-scale private equity firm dedicated to technology by focusing…

In 2014, Starboard Value set its sights on Darden Restaurants, the parent company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster. When Darden pushed ahead with the sale of Red Lobster despite shareholder calls to discuss it first, Jeff Smith and Starboard…

When Cliff Asness walked away from Goldman Sachs to co-found AQR Capital Management, he gave up a partnership at one of Wall Street's most prestigious firms, just before it went public. AQR launched its first fund in August 1998, straight into the…

Private equity is often portrayed as polished boardrooms and carefully modeled spreadsheets. The reality can be far messier, with deals won and lost in late-night negotiations when the stakes are highest and everyone is running on adrenaline. Glenn…

In the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, a small group of investors saw what most of Wall Street missed: the U.S. housing market was built on a foundation of risky mortgages that was bound to crack. Those who bet against it, John Paulson…

July 07, 2017

Co-Chairman Howard Marks talks to Institutional Investor's Julie Segal about the call that changed his life. (Recorded on December 15, 2016)Legal Information and DisclosuresThis presentation expresses the views of the author as of the date indicated…