Maverick Capital

Maverick Capital is an American hedge fund firm. It was founded by Lee Ainslie in 1993, who was a "Tiger Cub" under Julian Robertson at Tiger Management, helped raise $38 million in capital by the family of Texas entrepreneur Sam Wyly.[2] From 1995 to 2014, the fund returned a compounded return of 13% annually.[3] As of February 2019, Maverick has $14.9 billion in assets under management and 129 employees.[4]

It primarily sticks with stocks (avoiding bonds, commodities, currencies, and options), holding both long and short positions and buying what it thinks will beat the market.[5] It employs fundamental analysis and examines management closely. It examines companies for "good capital-allocation decisions", and especially how incremental returns on invested capital compare to the cost of capital.[6] In 2006, Lee Ainslie mentioned "It’s quite frustrating as a shareholder that companies are not using cash more productively for their shareholders, whether by buying back stock or by issuing dividends". Lee Ainslie describes Maverick Capital as a traditional fund that puts greater premium on the value of its relationships with management teams than more "interventionist" hedge funds.[2]

It started to diversify into young companies in 2004 under its flagship equities hedge fund (under David Singer).[3] In October 2014, Maverick announced that it would be hitting the startup scene by launching its first venture capital fund on January 1, 2015.[3] Many of its investments involve healthcare and biotechnology.

By the end of 2015, it carried over $6.9 billion in holdings.[7]