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Happy Birthday | Naomi Watts turns 41 today. Billionaire hedge fund founder Paul Tudor Jones is turning 55. Teen queen Hilary Duff is turning 22. Glenn Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, is 55. Mira Sorvino is 42. Janeane Garofalo is turning 45. Dita Von Teese is 37. Director John Sayles is 59. Bam Margera is turning 30. Artist David Salle is 57. And the legendary Brigitte Bardot turns 75 today.
You may still be dealing with the nasty effects of the economic downturn, but the pain and misery appears to be over for the hedge funders who were forced to momentarily put off plans to buy a new jet or private Caribbean island earlier this year. The Post reports the first six months of 2009 were very good for the likes of Steve Cohen, Paul Tudor Jones, Phil Falcone, and John Paulson as "hedge funds overall turned in their best performance in a decade, with funds up 12 percent through the end of June." Before you immediately brush this off as just another example of the rich getting richer while the less fortunate continue to struggle, consider four reasons why it's actually great news that Phil Falcone may end the year with a net worth north of $3 billion:More
The real estate market in hedge fund-heavy Greenwich continues to disappoint: Sales were down nearly 70 percent during the first quarter of 2009 compared with the same time period a year earlier, and the average sale price plummeted 23 percent. The good news? Greenwich-based hedge funds like Steve Cohen's SAC Capital and Paul Tudor Jones's Tudor Investment Corporation scored big gains last month as May "turned into one of the best performing months in history." Does that mean that some newly optimistic financial titan will find the cojones to pay $75 million for Leona Helmsley's former estate, which has been languishing on the market for months now? Let's hope so. It sure would be a pity if the 75-foot outdoor pool and industrial ice cream machine didn't get any use this summer. [Greenwich Time, NYT/Dealbook]
The Robin Hood Foundation's spring fundraiser took place last night at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center and some 3,200 people turned up to munch on grilled shrimp and chicken Milanese, mingle with the likes of Oprah and Anne Hathaway, and open their wallets and give to the non-profit that funnels millions of dollars a year to worthy causes across the city. The mood was a bit subdued this year, which isn't surprising considering Robin Hood remains the charity of choice for a big bunch of Wall Street chiefs and hedge fund titans like Dan Och, Steve Cohen, and Paul Tudor Jones. To reflect the mood, the lavish auction items that were a staple in previous years weren't part of the program this time around. But emcee Jon Stewart managed to keep the crowd laughing with Bernie Madoff jokes, and George Soros gave the evening a big boost by making a $50 million pledge. (The organization collected a total of $72 million last night, up from $56 million last spring.) Coverage of the event can be found here, here, and here. For a slightly more informal take on the evening, a brief dispatch from the wife of a hedge fund manager is below.More
Hedge Funders Keep Up Their Classy Reps | Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones isn't letting the crappy economy stop him from going all-out this holiday season. This past weekend Jones unveiled his annual Christmas display outside his Greenwich mansion, which features 15,000 lights syncronized to a four-minute looping soundtrack. (If you pull up near the house, you can listen to the music by tuning your radio to 90.5 FM.) The display will be open to the public from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. through Dec. 20. And if you're one of the people who invested in Jones' fund and you've since been notified that Jones is no longer permitting clients to withdraw their cash? Well, you can always walk up to the front door and try asking in person! [Greenwich Time via Dealbreaker]
These are difficult times for hedge fund king Paul Tudor Jones but he was all smiles as the guest of honor at last night's 11th annual NYU Child Study Center Gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. Joining Jones and his wife Sonia (left) was the center's director, Harold Koplewicz, co-chairs (and fellow finance big wigs) Gary Cohn and Lisa Pevaroff, David and Danielle Ganek, and Michael Novogratz and wife Sukey, and a crowd of nearly 600, including Vera Wang and Arthur Becker, Jon Corzine, Elie Wiesel, Jane and Jimmy Buffett, Ellen Barkin, Erica Jong, Jane Rosenthal, Christiane Celle, Faith Popcorn, Al D'Amato, Larry Silverstein and wife Klara, Neal Shapiro and Juju Chang, Julie and Ed Minskoff, Elaine and Ken Langone, Susan and Martin Lipton, Claude Wasserstein, Linda and Arthur Carter, Alice and Tom Tisch, Vicki and Stuart Match Suna, and Brooke and Dan Neidich. [PMc, NYSD] More
♦ The Big Three automakers are putting finishing touches on new business plans to take to Congress this week, part of a last-ditch effort to secure a federal bailout. [WSJ, Bloomberg, NYT]
♦ Shoppers spent $41 billion over the four-day weekend, up 7.2 percent from the year before. That was better than expected, but retail experts are still pessimistic about the holiday season outlook. [CNNMoney, WSJ]
♦ Hedge funder Paul Tudor Jones has suspended withdrawals as he splits his $10 billion flagship fund into two. [FT]
♦ The bailout has already cost more than World War II, in case you're keeping count at home. [Clusterstock] More
Happy Birthday | Serena Williams is 27 today. Others celebrating: Music exec Andre Harrell is 48, Christina Milian is 27, former New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman is 62, Olivia Newton-John is 60, and Linda Hamilton turns 52. Two figures on the New York web scene will be blowing out candles this evening: Gothamist co-founder Jen Chung is 32. And Nerve.com founder Rufus Griscom is 41. Weekend birthdays after the jump!More
