This Year $2.16 Million Wins You Lunch With Buffett (Wall Street Journal)
The annual tradition of an online auction to have lunch with Warren Buffett ended Friday night with a winning bid of $2.16 million. The winning bid came from Andy Chua of Singapore, according to a Glide spokeswoman. In its 15th year, proceeds from the online auction — Mr. Chua bid $2,166,766 to be exact — will go to Glide, a San Francisco-based charity that also organized the event. Glide works with San Francisco’s poor and homeless.
Bridgewater Gains in May With Hedge Funds Climbing 1.2% (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds run by firms including Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates LP posted gains last month as Paul Tudor Jones’s main strategy at Tudor Investment Corp. fell. Hedge funds on average rose 1.2 percent in May, according to Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc., underperforming the 2.1 percent gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which rallied to a record from an April 11 low amid optimism for economic growth. Equity, event-driven and macro hedge funds posted advances, according to HFR. The May gains bring hedge-fund returns on average to 2 percent for the year’s first five months, compared with 4.1 percent for the S&P 500.
Icahn becomes largest shareholder in Family Dollar Stores (Reuters)
Hedge fund billionaire Carl Icahn became the largest shareholder in Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO) after reporting a 9.39 percent stake in the company on Friday, and said he may seek representation on its board. Shares of Family Dollar, struggling under declining sales, rose as much as 12 percent in extended trade on Friday. At 10.69 million shares, Icahn becomes the largest shareholder in Family Dollar. Chief Executive Officer Howard Levine disclosed a 8.18 percent stake with 9.31 million shares last November, according to Thomson Reuters data. Activist investor Nelson Peltz-led Trian Partners is the third-largest shareholder with a 7.35 percent stake and 8.37 million shares in Family Dollar, according to a March 31 filing.
Citadel Builds Swaps Unit to Repeat Market-Making Triumph (Businessweek)
Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge-fund manager who’s captured almost 20 percent of trading in equity options through his market-making business, is taking aim at the global swaps industry. Citadel LLC, the parent of Griffin’s money-management and brokerage firms, is setting up a dealer to make markets in contracts used to hedge or speculate on everything from currencies to corporate creditworthiness, according to a regulatory filing and a person briefed on the matter, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.
Britain’s biggest philanthropist cuts donations to children’s charity run by former wife and boosts bonuses to his staff instead (Daily Mail)
Britain’s biggest philanthropist has cut donations to a children’s charity run by his ex-wife following their divorce, it emerged today. Chris Hohn used to give a large chunk of the profits of his successful hedge fund to the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), which is run by his former wife, Jamie Cooper. It was reported today that the £16million windfall the charity received from the fund in 2012 dropped to zero last year after the couple agreed to end the donation following their divorce. The money instead went towards a £26million bonus deal for him and his top staff, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Faber Report: Mess at Hertz (CNBC.com)
