The NSA hired Jim Simons to crack Soviet codes. He got fired.
While smoking 2 to 3 packs a day, he built a fund that averaged 66% a year for 30 years, made $31 billion, and never hired a single person from Wall Street.Meet the chain-smoking mathematician behind the greatest hedge fund ever madeTimeline:• PhD from Berkeley at 23• Hired by the NSA to crack Soviet codes during the Cold War• Fired for opposing the Vietnam War• Founded Renaissance Technologies in 1978• Launched the Medallion Fund: 66% annual returns, 30 years straight• Hired only mathematicians, physicists, and codebreakers.• Net worth peaked at $31 billion• Passed away in May 2024 at age 86His algorithms still trade today. Here's what they're buying now:$Palantir Tech(PLTR.US) — Palantir, the AI defense contractor. 17.5% of portfolio, up 225%$United Therap(UTHR.US) — United Therapeutics, a biotech building lab-grown organs. Up 109%$Kinross Gold(KGC.US) — Kinross Gold, a gold miner. Up 96%$Exelixis(EXEL.US) — Exelixis, an oncology company most people have never heard of. Up 51%A mathematician who changed Wall Street forever. Rest easy, Jim. The fund lives on
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