Empirica Capital
Company typeHedge fund
Founded1999
FounderNassim Nicholas Taleb
Defunct2005

Empirica Capital LLC was a hedge fund founded in 1999 by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in partnership with Mark Spitznagel, that used Taleb's black swan strategy.[1][2][3][4] The firm closed in 2005.[5][4]: 157 

The investment strategy of the fund has been explained in a New Yorker article.[6] One of Empirica's funds, Empirica Kurtosis LLC, was reported to have made a 60% return in 2000 followed by losses in 2001, 2002, and single digit gains in 2003 and 2004.[7][8]

Taleb has stated that he shut down Empirica LLC, in 2005 to become a "writer and a scholar".[3][9][10] At the time he also "feared he might have a recurrence of throat cancer."[9][11]

In 2007 Spitznagel founded the firm Universa Investments L.P. with Taleb as an adviser using black swan portfolio hedging strategies similar to Empirica's.[10][12]

References

  1. ^ Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2007), "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable", Random House and Penguin, New York, ISBN 978-1-4000-6351-2
  2. ^ Harrington, Shannon D. (July 19, 2010). "Pimco Sells Black Swan Protection as Wall Street Markets Fear". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2010-10-01.
  3. ^ a b "Mr. Volatility and the Swan", The Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2007, retrieved January 5, 2016
  4. ^ a b Hubbard, Douglas W. (April 2009). The Failure of Risk Management: Why It's Broken and How to Fix It. Wiley. p. 304. ISBN 978-0-470-38795-5.
  5. ^ "Black swan manager returning 23%, anticipating bear market". 24 October 2011.
  6. ^ Gladwell, Malcolm (22 April 2002). "Blowing Up". The New Yorker. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  7. ^ Patterson, Scott. "Mr. Volatility and the Swan". WSJ. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  8. ^ "Nassim Taleb's Black Swan Fund: Failed Strategy". Tavakoli Structured Finance LLC. 2009-06-03. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
  9. ^ a b Lubove, Seth; Weiss, Miles (6 October 2011). "Black Swan Manager Returning 23% Anticipating Bear Market". Bloomberg. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  10. ^ a b Patterson, Scott (November 4, 2008), "October Pain Was 'Black Swan' Gain", The Wall Street Journal, retrieved January 5, 2016
  11. ^ Farrell, Maureen (June 27, 2011). "Protect Your Tail". Forbes.
  12. ^ "Black Swan Trader Bets Reputation on Inflation", The Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2009
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