What is David Einhorn's Net Worth?
David Einhorn is an investor and hedge fund manager who has a net worth of $1 billion. David Einhorn founded Greenlight Capital, a hedge fund that specializes in corporate debt offerings and equities in North America. It is most notable for its short selling of Lehman stock prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Beyond his hedge fund, Einhorn is an amateur poker player, and has competed in various World Series of Poker tournaments.
Early Life and Education
David Einhorn was born on November 20, 1968 in New Jersey as the eldest of three boys of Jewish parents Nancy and Stephen. His father founded the consulting firm Einhorn & Associates and the venture capital fund Capital Midwest Fund. In the mid-1970s, the family moved to Wisconsin. There, Einhorn attended Nicolet High School in Glendale, graduating in 1987. For his higher education, he went to Cornell University, from which he graduated summa cum laude with a BA in government in 1991.
Career Beginnings
After graduating from Cornell, Einhorn began his career as an investment banker on Wall Street. He worked for two years with the boutique investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and then went to work for the hedge fund Siegler, Collery & Co.
Greenlight Capital
In 1996, Einhorn founded the hedge fund Greenlight Capital. The fund flourished in its early days by short selling weak financial firms, such as Conseco and Sirrom Capital. However, Greenlight lost 4% of its total capital on a short on Chemdex just before the dot-come bubble burst. In the summer of 2007, Greenlight began shorting Lehman Brothers stock, with Einhorn believing that the firm had huge exposures to illiquid real estate investments that were improperly accounted for. Lehman went on to declare bankruptcy in 2008. Greenlight made headlines again in early 2012 when the UK Financial Services Authority fined Einhorn and the fund $11.2 million for insider trading in the UK. The fine was the second-largest ever issued to an individual in the history of the UK's FSA.
Greenlight struggled throughout the latter half of the 2010s. From 2014 to 2018, its assets under management decreased from around $12 billion to about $5.5 billion. In 2015, Greenlight was ranked 53rd out of 58 hedge funds in the Institutional Investor's Alpha Hedge Fund Report Card. It received a "D" grade for the second year in a row, as well. Greenlight continued to flounder into the 2020s as it posted a loss of 21.5% during the advent of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
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Apple Lawsuit
In early 2013, Einhorn filed a lawsuit against Apple in a Manhattan court. He did this to pressure the company into issuing dividend-paying perpetual preferred stock as a means of distributing a portion of its $137 billion in cash to shareholders. The court ultimately ruled in favor of Einhorn.
Poker Playing
An amateur poker player, Einhorn has competed in some World Series of Poker tournaments. In the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event, he came in 18th place and won $659,730. He performed even better in the 2012 World Series of Poker Big One for One Drop tournament, finishing in third place and taking home $4,352,000.
Philanthropy
Due to his wealth and status, Einhorn has been significantly involved in philanthropy. He is a major contributor to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, of which he also sits on the board; in 2006, he donated his poker winnings to the organization. Einhorn is also a board member of the Robin Hood Foundation. He has donated to a number of other organizations over the years, including Tomorrows Children's Fund, the Project on Government Oversight, the Center for Public Integrity, and City Year.
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Book
In 2010, Einhorn published the book "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time," about his six-year fight against Allied Capital in the early 00s. During that time, he had alleged that the company defrauded the Small Business Administration, while Allied claimed that Einhorn engaged in market manipulation by recommending to short the company, resulting in Allied's stock plummeting. In mid-2007, a lengthy SEC investigation concluded that Allied broke securities laws pertaining to its handling of illiquid securities it held.
Personal Life
In 1993, Einhorn wed financial reporter and media consultant Cheryl Strauss, a fellow Cornell alumnus. They had three children together before divorcing in 2017. Einhorn resides in Westchester County, New York.
