John A. Thaler

John A. Thaler is the founder of JAT Capital Management LP, a multi-billion-dollar global equity investment firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Early Life and Education

John Thaler grew up in Mastic Beach, NY, where he attended William Floyd High School and graduated from the school in 1993. He later studied at the University of Chicago and graduated with a B.A. in economics in 1997.

Career

Thaler joined Shumway Capital in 2002 and began to manage his own fund – the Shumway Omni fund – in 2006, which focused on technology, media and telecommunications. Prior to working at Shumway, Thaler was a banking analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co. and an associate at private-equity firm Spectrum Equity Investors LP. He left Shumway in 2007 to open his own hedge fund, JAT Capital Management, named after his initials.

Thaler is known amongst those in the hedge fund industry as a Tiger grand-cub, due to his time spent working with Tiger cub Chris Shumway at Shumway Capital, who worked under Julian Robertson at Tiger Management. According to Institutional Investor’s Alpha, Tiger Cubs and Tiger Grand-cubs are some of the most recognized long-short managers and stock pickers in the hedge fund industry.

JAT Capital

JAT Capital Management LP was founded in 2007 by John Thaler and primarily invests in the technology, media, telecommunications and gaming sectors. According to Market Realist, the firm invests long and short using a private-equity-like investing approach that takes a long-term perspective and incorporates constructive engagement with management teams.

Investment Strategy

According to Bloomberg, Thaler’s JAT Capital fund uses a long-short strategy that seeks to profit by betting on rising and falling stocks and is focused on technology, media, telecommunications, travel and leisure companies.