Defunct American investment management and hedge fund company
Clarium Capital Management LLC was an American investment management and hedge fund company pursuing a global macro strategy. It was founded in San Francisco[5] in 2002 by Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook.[6][1] Its assets under management grew to $8 billion in 2008, after which a series of unprofitable investments and client redemptions shrank that to about $350 million as of 2011.[7]
Function and history
Clarium was an employee-owned firm that invests in public equity (primarily in micro-cap companies), fixed income, and hedging markets. Unlike most funds, which charge clients about a 2% management fee for their total assets invested and an additional 20% performance fee of the increase in the fund's net asset value, Clarium charged a 0% management fee and a performance fee of 25%.[6]
The company stopped working while Thiel worked at PayPal and resumed in 2002.[3] In 2008, Clarium moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City.[8] In June 2010 Thiel closed the New York office to consolidate the company into one location at its San Francisco office.[1] By 2011, the company had shrunk by 90%.[9] It was considered defunct by 2013.[10]
Performance
2002
Clarium's 2002 performance, a series of correct bets in the energy markets that global demand would cause an oil shortage, was described by a 2009 Wall Street Journal article as "impressive".[11]
2008-2010
Clarium was down 4.5% in 2008,[12] down 25% in 2009,[13] and down 23% in 2010.[4] For the first half of 2008, the fund had a YTD return of 57.9%.[14] At the start of 2008, the fund had $4 billion in assets under management (AUM),[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.[15] It lost most of its value in 2008 on large bets that the US dollar would fall, and AUM reached $681 million in December 2010.[4][16]
