Stanley Freeman Druckenmiller (born June 14, 1953) is an American investor, hedge fund manager and philanthropist. He is the former chairman and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

of Duquesne Capital, which he founded in 1981. He closed the fund in August 2010.Forbes: The World's Billionaires - Stanley Druckenmiller
March 2013 At the time of closing, Duquesne Capital had over $12 billion in

assets In financial accounting, an asset is any resource owned or controlled by a business or an economic entity. It is anything (tangible or intangible) that can be used to produce positive economic value. Assets represent value of ownership that can ...

. From 1988 to 2000, he managed money for

George Soros George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...

as the lead portfolio manager for

Quantum Fund The Quantum Group of Funds are privately owned hedge funds based in London, New York, Curaçao (Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Cayman Islands. They are advised by George Soros through his company Soros Fund Management. Soros started the fund i ...

. He is reported to have made $260 million in 2008.

Early life and education

Druckenmiller was born in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the son of Anne and Stanley Thomas Druckenmiller, a chemical engineer.Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: "Steelers' suitor Stanley Druckenmiller has always been good at making money" By Bill Toland
August 17, 2008] He grew up in a middle-class household in the suburbs of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. His parents divorced when he was in elementary school and he went to live with his father in

Gibbstown, New Jersey Gibbstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Greenwich Township, in Gloucester County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the CDP's population was 3,739.Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey) and then in Richmond, Virginia (his sisters, Helen and Salley, would stay with their mother in Philadelphia). Druckenmiller is a graduate of Collegiate School, Richmond, Virginia. In 1975, he received a BA in English and economics from Bowdoin College (where he opened a hot dog stand with Lawrence B. Lindsey, who later became economic policy adviser to President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

). He dropped out of a Ph.D. program in economics at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in the middle of the second semester to accept a position as an oil analyst for Pittsburgh National Bank.

Investment career

Druckenmiller began his financial career in 1977 as a management trainee at Pittsburgh National Bank. He became head of the bank's

equity research Securities research is a discipline within the financial services industry. Securities research professionals are known most generally as "analysts", "research analysts", or "securities analysts"; all the foregoing terms are synonymous. Resear ...

group after one year. In 1981, he founded his own firm, Duquesne Capital Management. In 1985, he became a consultant to Dreyfus, splitting his time between Pittsburgh and New York, where he lived two days each week. He moved to Pittsburgh full-time in 1986, when he was named head of the Dreyfus Fund. As part of his agreement with Dreyfus, he also maintained management of Duquesne. In 1988, he was hired by George Soros to replace

Victor Niederhoffer Victor Niederhoffer (born December 10, 1943) is an American hedge fund manager, champion squash player, bestselling author and statistician. Life and career Niederhoffer was born in Brooklyn to a Jewish family. His paternal grandfather Martin (M ...

. He and Soros famously "broke the Bank of England" when they shorted British

pound sterling Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and ...

in 1992, reputedly making more than $1 billion in profits, in an event known as

Black Wednesday Black Wednesday (or the 1992 Sterling crisis) occurred on 16 September 1992 when the UK Government was forced to withdraw sterling from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), after a failed attempt to keep its exchange rate above the ...

. They calculated that the Bank of England did not have enough foreign currency reserves with which to buy enough sterling to prop up the currency and that raising interest rates would be politically unsustainable. He left Soros in 2000 after taking large losses in technology stocks. Since then, he has concentrated full-time on Duquesne Capital. He is profiled in the book '' The New Market Wizards'' by Jack D. Schwager. According to Bloomberg News, on August 18, 2010, Druckenmiller announced the closing of his hedge fund "telling investors he'd been worn down by the stress of trying to maintain one of the best trading records in the industry while managing an 'enormous amount of capital.'" Duquesne Capital Management posts an average annual return of 30 percent without any money-losing year. His funds were down for about 5 percent when he announced his retirement in August. However, they had since erased the losses and closed with a small gain through successful bets that the market would rally in anticipation that the Federal Reserve would announce further "

Quantitative Easing Quantitative easing (QE) is a monetary policy action whereby a central bank purchases predetermined amounts of government bonds or other financial assets in order to stimulate economic activity. Quantitative easing is a novel form of monetary pol ...

" to assist in reducing unemployment and avoid deflation. According to ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', on August 18, 2010, Druckenmiller "told clients that he's returning their money and ending his firm's 30-year run, citing the 'high emotional toll' of not performing up to his own expectations." He indicated it was not easy to make big profits while handling very large sums of money. His biggest investments are Microsoft and Amazon in 2020.

Investment philosophy

Druckenmiller is a top-down investor who adopts a similar trading style as George Soros by holding a group of stocks long, a group of stocks short, and uses leverage to trade futures and currency. In early 2019 he held large positions in

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...

, Abbott Laboratories,

Salesforce.com Salesforce, Inc. is an American cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It provides customer relationship management (CRM) software and applications focused on sales, customer service, marketing automation, a ...

Delta Airlines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along wi ...

, and

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

. In November 2020, he stated that he owned both

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

and bitcoin.

Personal life

Druckenmiller has been married twice. In 1976, he married his high school sweetheart; they divorced in 1980. In 1988, Druckenmiller married Fiona Katharine Biggs, a

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

graduate and niece of investor Barton Biggs, in an Episcopalian ceremony. Druckenmiller has three daughters with Biggs: Sarah, Tess, and Hannah.

Political and economic views

Druckenmiller advocates reducing spending on entitlement programs such as

Social Security Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

. Druckenmiller was a major supporter of Republican Governor

Chris Christie Christopher James Christie (born September 6, 1962) is an American politician, lawyer, political commentator, lobbyist, and former federal prosecutor who served as the 55th governor of New Jersey from 2010 to 2018. Christie, who was born in N ...

of New Jersey. In 2015, Druckenmiller donated $300,000 total to the presidential candidacies of Christie,

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...

, and

John Kasich John Richard Kasich Jr. ( ; born May 13, 1952) is an American politician, author, and television news host who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1983 to 2001 and as the 69th governor of Ohio from 2011 to 2019. A Republican, Kasic ...

. In 2020, after the

stock market crash A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a major cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic selling and underlying economic factors. They often foll ...

and subsequent rally above pre-crash levels, Druckenmiller said he expects

inflation In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...

in the US economy due to actions taken by the

Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...

. He made a similar warning in 2013 during an address at Bowdoin College in which he noted that, since 1994, he has been concerned that spending on government entitlement programs would lead to an economic crisis worse than the financial collapse of 2008.

Wealth and philanthropy

In 2009, Druckenmiller donated $705 million to foundations that support medical research, education, and anti-poverty, including a $100 million gift to found a Neuroscience Institute at the NYU School of Medicine. Druckenmiller is also Chairman of the Board of

Harlem Children's Zone The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) is a nonprofit organization for poverty-stricken children and families living in Harlem, providing free support in the form of parenting workshops, a preschool program, three charter schools, and child-oriented ...

, a multi-faceted, community-based project. Harlem Children's Zone was founded by Druckenmiller's college friend and fellow Bowdoin College alumnus

Geoffrey Canada Geoffrey Canada (born January 13, 1952) is an American educator, social activist and author. Since 1990, Canada has been president of the Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, New York, an organization that states its goal is to increase high scho ...

. In 2006, Druckenmiller gave $25 million to the organization. In 2013, Druckenmiller and Canada toured college campuses urging reform in taxation, health care, and Social Security to ensure

intergenerational equity Intergenerational equity in economic, psychological, and sociological contexts, is the idea of fairness or justice between generations. The concept can be applied to fairness in dynamics between children, youth, adults, and seniors. It can al ...

. Druckenmiller and his wife are also principal sponsors of the New York City AIDS walk. The Stanley F. Druckenmiller Hall, built in 1997 at Bowdoin College, is named after Druckenmiller's grandfather and was dedicated to Bowdoin by Druckenmiller himself.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In July 2008, Druckenmiller emerged as a potential investor in the Pittsburgh Steelers franchise of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. The five sons of Steelers founder Art Rooney Sr. were working to restructure ownership of the team, and Druckenmiller was contacted by a member or representative of the Rooney family about buying the shares of several of the Rooney brothers. On September 18, Druckenmiller withdrew his bid to purchase the team. Former Steelers President

Dan Rooney Daniel Milton Rooney (July 20, 1932 – April 13, 2017) was an American executive and diplomat best known for his association with the Pittsburgh Steelers, an American football team in the National Football League (NFL), and son of the Steelers ...

stated that he has no ill will toward Druckenmiller, mentioning that he hopes the financier remains a great Steelers fan.

References

External links

Druckenmiller at Bowdoin College

"Druckenmiller to become full-time philanthropist"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Druckenmiller, Stanley 1953 births American billionaires American financiers American hedge fund managers American investors American money managers American philanthropists American stock traders Bowdoin College alumni Businesspeople from Pittsburgh Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies alumni Living people People from Greenwich Township, Gloucester County, New Jersey Stock and commodity market managers