John Hempton is an Australian investor. He is the founder, co-owner and

CIO CIO may refer to: Organizations * Central Imagery Office, a predecessor of the American National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency * Central Intelligence Office, the national intelligence agency of the former Republic of Vietnam * Central Intellige ...

of Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd, a hedge fund management company.

Career

Hempton was educated at Sydney Boys High School and received a

Bachelor in Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

from the University of Adelaide in 1991. He later worked at the Australian Treasury until 1997 mostly on tax policy and analysing accounts to investigate company tax avoidance. He then worked for the

ANZ Bank ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand ...

in strategic planning through 1997. Between 1998 and 1999 Hempton was the Chief Analyst of Tax Policies in New Zealand Treasury, In 1999 he joined

Platinum Asset Management Platinum Asset Management is an Australian asset management company. It has been publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange since 2007. It is a constituent member of both the S&P/ASX 200 and S&P/ASX 300 indexes. In 2019, it was ranked ...

which was started by billionaire

Kerr Neilson Kerr Neilson (born 17 October 1949) is a South African-born Australian investment manager who co-founded Platinum Asset Management. Neilson's ability to consistently choose high-performing stocks has seen him dubbed "Australia's Warren Buffett". ...

. Hempton was the Head of Financials at Platinum Asset Management and the youngest partner at the firm. The company listed in on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

in 2007. Hempton retired at age 39 but later founded Bronte Capital in 2009. The company manages over 1 Billion dollars for investors including the former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Wirecard

Hempton began to suspect irregularities at German payments company Wirecard in 2012 following a Wirecard acquisition in Indonesia, and in 2014 he tipped off '' Financial Times'' journalist Dan McCrum. While the firm did collapse in 2020 following McCrum's investigation, Hempton's fund lost money in his short positions, as many had expired prior to Wirecard's collapse.

Valeant

He repeatedly warned investors of problems at Valeant Pharmaceuticals between 2014 and 2017, including billionaire investors and traders such as Bill Ackman and Bill Miller, prior to its share price collapsing. Hempton made 5 million profit on short selling Valeant stock. Hempton appeared as himself in the Netflix series

Dirty Money Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdicti ...

in the episode ''Drug Short''.

Herbalife

Hempton's conflict with Ackman is not confined to Valeant. Ackman announced as 1 billion short on Herbalife in late 2012 claiming that the company was a

pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly im ...

preying on low income earners. Although mid-2013 Hempton appeared on CNBC stating that Herbalife were “scumbags” but that he was still investing in them. Hempton has since researched the company further and continued to invest in it while viewing it as highly ethical. In 2018 Ackman exited his near billion-dollar investment position against Herbalife after the company's stock price continued to rise.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hempton, John Living people Australian investors Australian stock traders Year of birth missing (living people) Chief investment officers Australian company founders People educated at Sydney Boys High School University of Adelaide alumni