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A good but incomplete history of Fidelity and its famous star managers.
Post Tsai, a young Ned Johnson III (of course related to Johnson II) ran a private/in-house Fido fund called Magellan from 1963-71 with quite spectacular performance. Ned would have been a star manager if he just stuck to being a fund portfolio manager, but he had other and bigger ideas. After a few years, Magellan (now a listed FMAGX) was handed over to Peter Lynch (1977-90) who became even a bigger star than Ned Johnson III, and in fact, among the most famous portfolio managers ever. But to the regrets of many, Lynch decided to retire at 48 and is still with Fidelity as consultant and mentor.
Actually, Lynch wanted to retire even earlier, but the crash of 1987 intervened. Lynch didn't want to leave the "huge" fund ($20 billion, peanuts by today's standards) that was under heavy redemption to somebody else, so he stuck around for a while until 1990. He lamented later that the management of Magellan under redemption was very different from what he was used to during its explosive growth period.
Magellan's assets did peak at $100 billion, but has languished under managers that followed Lynch; the AUM is only $27 billion now. An ETF FMAG hasn't yet reached $50 million in 2.5 years. That is another lesson - don't count on past history or successes for the ETFs.
The more times I see/hear a PM in the financial pr0n media, the less I want to have money with them. Bob Arnott, Bill Gross, Jeff Gundlach, Michael Hassenstab, Cathie Wood, etc, etc. They all can be 'rock stars' with legions of fawning fans and media coverage -- until they aren't.
TRP's David Giroux is a rock star, but I get the distinct sense that he tends to eschew the media and is very selective with where and how often he's quoted or interviewed -- which I find refreshing. (You might be able to say the same about Buffett, too, maybe.)
Comments
Post Tsai, a young Ned Johnson III (of course related to Johnson II) ran a private/in-house Fido fund called Magellan from 1963-71 with quite spectacular performance. Ned would have been a star manager if he just stuck to being a fund portfolio manager, but he had other and bigger ideas. After a few years, Magellan (now a listed FMAGX) was handed over to Peter Lynch (1977-90) who became even a bigger star than Ned Johnson III, and in fact, among the most famous portfolio managers ever. But to the regrets of many, Lynch decided to retire at 48 and is still with Fidelity as consultant and mentor.
Actually, Lynch wanted to retire even earlier, but the crash of 1987 intervened. Lynch didn't want to leave the "huge" fund ($20 billion, peanuts by today's standards) that was under heavy redemption to somebody else, so he stuck around for a while until 1990. He lamented later that the management of Magellan under redemption was very different from what he was used to during its explosive growth period.
Magellan's assets did peak at $100 billion, but has languished under managers that followed Lynch; the AUM is only $27 billion now. An ETF FMAG hasn't yet reached $50 million in 2.5 years. That is another lesson - don't count on past history or successes for the ETFs.
The more times I see/hear a PM in the financial pr0n media, the less I want to have money with them. Bob Arnott, Bill Gross, Jeff Gundlach, Michael Hassenstab, Cathie Wood, etc, etc. They all can be 'rock stars' with legions of fawning fans and media coverage -- until they aren't.
TRP's David Giroux is a rock star, but I get the distinct sense that he tends to eschew the media and is very selective with where and how often he's quoted or interviewed -- which I find refreshing. (You might be able to say the same about Buffett, too, maybe.)