Point72 Asset Management is an American hedge fund. It was founded in 2014 by Steve Cohen, after his previous company S.A.C. Capital Advisors pleaded guilty to insider trading charges. In 2018, the company reopened to external investors after a two-year ban and began accepting outside capital. The company's office is located in Stamford, Connecticut.
History
2014 to 2019
Point72 has origins to 1992 with the founding of S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a group of hedge funds founded by Steve Cohen.[8] S.A.C pled guilty to federal charges in 2013 after an 11 year investigation into insider trading.[9] Point72 was founded in 2014 by Steve Cohen as the successor to S.A.C.[10] with the bulk of S.A.C.'s assets being transferred to Point72.[citation needed] Under an S.E.C. agreement, Point27 was initially not allowed to manage money from outside investors.[9] The firm initially hired Vincent Tortorella as chief surveillance officer and Kevin J. O’Connor an in-house attorney.[11] Douglas D. Haynes was appointed president.[12][13]
In 2015, the firm created Point72 Academy,[14] a 15-month paid program to train college graduates to work for the firm.[15].[16] That same year, the firm started Point72 Ventures, a venture capital unit focused on developing financial technology.[17]
In 2018, the restriction on managing outside money was lifted and Point72 opened its first hedge fund, securing $3 billion in capital from approximately 20 institutions.[18] Shaughnessy retired in 2018 and was replaced by Gavin O'Connor, who joined the firm from Goldman Sachs.[19] In March 2018, it was reported by the New York Times that Haynes resigned as president "amid [a] gender bias lawsuit, with Cohen assuming the role of president.[20][21]
2020 to present
In August 2020, the firm closed to new money with just over $17 billion under management.[22][23][24]
In January 2021, along with Ken Griffin's Citadel Investments, Point72 contributed $750 million to a $2.75 billion emergency bailout of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that had incurred deep losses in the GameStop short squeeze;[27][28][29] Melvin Capital is run by Gabe Plotkin, a former protégé of Steven Cohen and one of the managers of SAC whose trades were investigated by the SEC.[30][27][31][32] In the first half of 2021, Point72 was reported to have lost $500 million on its investment in Melvin Capital.[33]
In June 2025, Point72 Ventures helped fund series A for CX2, a military technologystartup.[34] In 2025, Point72 Turion began as a stock-pickinghedge fund focused on AI, with Reuters reporting the fund holding approximately $1.5 billion as of January of 2025.[35]
Gender bias lawsuits
The firm has faced multiple lawsuits from employees alleging gender and pay discrimination.[36][37][38][39] In September 2020, Point72 settled a gender and pay discrimination suit brought by Lauren Bonner, the company’s former Head of Talent Analytics.[40][41]
References
^ ab"About72". United States. Archived from the original on 2022-05-14. Retrieved 2022-05-14.
^ abProtess, Ben; Lattman, Peter (4 November 2013). "After a Decade, SAC Capital Blinks". New York Times. No. DealBook. New York, N.Y., United States. The New York Times Company. p. B1. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 6 November 2013.
^Goldstein, Matthew (6 May 2015). "Point72 Hires Ex-Prosecutor as General Counsel". New York Times. No. DealBook. New York, N.Y., United States. The New York Times Company. p. B9. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
