Barry S. Rosenstein (born 1960) is an American hedge fund manager and billionaire. He is the founder and managing partner of JANA Partners LLC, an activist hedge fund firm. He made $300 million over the merger of Whole Foods with Amazon in April–July 2017.

Early life and education

Barry Rosenstein was born in 1960. He is the son of Herbert Rosenstein of West Orange, New Jersey, a senior partner in the tax accounting firm of Rosenstein, Schantz & Jacobson, and his wife, Harriet Wolf. Rosenstein graduated from Lehigh University in 1981 where he studied accounting. He earned a master in business administration from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1984.

Investing career

Rosenstein first worked in the

investment banking Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...

and

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

departments of Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. Before launching JANA Rosenstein worked with

Asher Edelman Asher Barry Edelman (born November 26, 1939) is an American financier. Biography Edelman was the son of New York real estate investor, Richard M. Edelman. He graduated from Bard College and in 1961, he went to work for Halle and Stieglitz whe ...

, a well-known corporate raider, for 3.5 years in the 1980s. In the early 1990s Rosenstein went to San Francisco, having early success funding Copart, Inc., the world's largest car salvage company. He then led a private equity firm, Sagaponack Partners. Rosenstein founded hedge fund firm JANA Partners, in 2001, with about $35 million. Rosenstein is ranked with activist investors including Carl Icahn, Daniel Loeb and Bill Ackman. In April 2017, he made public that he and several investors owned 8.8% of Whole Foods, making them the second largest shareholders of the company after The Vanguard Group. He added that they aimed to shake up its board of directors and improve its use of technology. After Whole Foods merged with Amazon, Rosenstein sold his investment for $300 million in July 2017.

Activist investing

Through JANA Partners, Rosenstein buys large percentages of companies which he identifies as underperforming. He then has those companies make the changes he believes they need to improve the performance of the company.

Boards

Rosenstein serves on the board of trustees of

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

and

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

Personal life

In 1986, he married Lizanne Teitelbaum, the daughter of Dr Seymour Teitelbaum and Lilian Ostrovsky de Teitelbaum of Briarcliff Manor, New York, and Buenos Aires, with Rabbi David Kahane and Cantor Dov Kerin officiating at the Plaza Hotel in New York. In 2008, Forbes estimated his net worth at $1.3 billion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenstein, Barry Living people Lehigh University alumni Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni American billionaires American company founders American hedge fund managers Shareholder-rights activists Year of birth uncertain 1960 births