Hedge fund icon Stanley Druckenmiller is shutting his firm and ending a 30-year career after amassing one of the best long-term trading records in the industry.
Druckenmiller, 57, said he was tired of the stress of managing money for others and frustrated by his failure in the past three years to match returns that had averaged 30% annually since 1986. His Duquesne Capital Management LLC, which oversees $12 billion and has never had a losing year, is down 5% this year, after trailing peers in 2009.
Druckenmiller built his reputation making large bets on macroeconomic themes that he spotted before others. The decision to shut Duquesne suggests that in an era in which the biggest hedge funds oversee $30 billion and are adding even more assets, they may no longer be able to routinely outperform conventional funds by wide margins.
