Enron is not something American likes to look back and think
about. Its collapse hurt a lot of
people, and the principal Enron employees became media fodder. Hedge funds have
not actually had the best reputation in the minds of American either. It seems to represent rightly or wrongly a cut-throat
take no prisoners approach to doing business.
One guy has been involved with Enron and hedge funds not
just as a regular employee but as someone who has benefited tremendously from
both. Lucky for him though he hasn’t been implicated or charged with anything
sinister at Enron and seems to be doing well with his hedge fund business.
Meet John
D. Arnold. Born in 1974, he started
his career in Enron as a trader. It was while working in the Natural Gas Desk that
his star really started to shine. Using
the company’s new internet-based trading system he was said to be responsible
for over $300 million in profits for Enron in 2001. The company gave Arnold
still in his 20’s, $ 8 million in bonus for his outstanding work.
The following year Enron collapsed, but not Arnold. With the
bonus he got from the company he started his own hedge fund firm, Centaurus
which handles billions of dollars in assets and unlike Enron is doing well. Mr. Arnold is now one of the richest men in
America with a net worth of around $3 billion.
Aside from making money, he and his wife have been active in
philanthropic
causes. In fact they are now focusing their philanthropic energy in helping
to address the pension fund problem in California. They are supporting a group called the
California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.
As of 2011 it is
estimated that 10 of California’s largest funds were short by a combined $240
billion. This is a huge sum of money.
It’s better that finding a way to address this problem should be done sooner
than later.
With all his wealth, it’s interesting to see Arnold trying
to help address a gigantic problem.
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