Seth Klarman Biography

Seth Klarman (born May 21, 1957) is an american billionaire who founded the Baupost Group, a Boston-based private investment partnership

Early life and education

Klarman grew up in a Jewish family in Baltimore, where his father was a public health economist at Johns Hopkins University and his mother taught high school English.

Klarman is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and was classmates with Jeffrey Immelt, Steve Burke, Stephen Mandel (hedge fund manager) and Jamie Dimon. At Cornell, he was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity, where he commonly studied while watching TV in the fraternity library/TV room. Despite this unorthodox study style, he achieved Phi Beta Kappa.

Career

Before founding Baupost, Klarman worked for Max Heine and Michael Price of the Mutual Shares fund (now a part of Franklin Templeton Investments). He founded the Baupost Group in 1982, which managed USD 22 Billion as of 2010. Despite his unconventional strategies, he has consistently achieved high returns. He is a very conservative investor, and often holds a significant amounts of cash in his investment portfolios, sometimes in excess of 50% of the total. He often makes unusual investments, buying unpopular assets while they are undervalued, using complex derivatives, and buying put options. Klarman typically keeps a low profile, rarely speaking in public or granting interviews. However, in 2006, he spoke pessimistically about the stock market and warned of future inflation. He is sometimes referred to as "the Warren Buffett of his generation"

In 1991, Klarman authored Margin of Safety, Risk Averse Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor, which since has become a value investing classic. Now out of print, Margin of Safety has sold on Amazon for $1,200 and eBay for $2,000.

Philanthropy

Klarman started The Klarman Family Foundation ($255 million in assets as of 2010) which donates to medical causes, Jewish organizations (such as the American Jewish Committee, Boston's Combined Jewish Philanthropies and Gann Academy), and Israeli causes. Klarman is the chairman of Facing History and Ourselves which develops classroom programs to combat anti-Semitism and bigotry. Klarman also is active with the The Israel Project, a pro-Israel advocacy group that collects and provides information on Israel for journalists. He gave the organization $4 million between 2008 and 2010.

Personal

Klarman is married to Beth Klarman. Klarman is the older brother of Harvard Law Professor Michael Klarman.

Klarman is the key U.S. investor behind The Times of Israel, an online English-language newspaper which reports on Israel, the region and the Jewish world.