James Altucher (born January 22, 1968) is an American hedge-fund manager, author,

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

and entrepreneur who has founded or cofounded over 20 companies. He has published 20 books and is a contributor to publications including ''

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nikk ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

TechCrunch TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...

'', and ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''.

Career

Raised in

North Brunswick, New Jersey North Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is centrally located in the Raritan Valley region within the New York Metropolitan area. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 43,905, reflecting ...

Altucher attended

North Brunswick Township High School North Brunswick Township High School (NBTHS) is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in North Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary s ...

and graduated in 1986. Altucher graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

with a bachelor's degree in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

in 1989. Altucher's first job after graduating was in the IT department at

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

. At one point, Altucher hosted an HBO program, ''III:am''. In 1998, Altucher left

, sold a company he founded, Reset Inc., for approximately $15 million, and used the proceeds to fund new internet investments. Altucher has said he began this period with $15 million and lost it all in two years, which led him to re-evaluate his approach to both business and life. During this time,

Jim Cramer James Joseph Cramer (born February 10, 1955) is an American television personality and author. He is the host of ''Mad Money'' on CNBC and an anchor on ''Squawk on the Street''. A former hedge fund manager, founder, and senior partner of Cramer ...

TheStreet.com ''TheStreet'' is a financial news and financial literacy website. It is a subsidiary of The Arena Group. The company provides both free content and subscription services such as Action Alerts Plus a stock recommendation portfolio co-managed by B ...

hired him to write about stocks, and Altucher began trading for hedge funds. From 2002 to 2005, he traded for several hedge funds, and from 2004 to 2006, he ran a

fund of hedge funds A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A f ...

. In 2006, Altucher founded the financial

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

, StockPickr. The website was named one of ''

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

s 50 Best Websites of 2007. Altucher sold the company for $10 million in 2007. In 2017, he began advising on

cryptocurrency A cryptocurrency, crypto-currency, or crypto is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It i ...

investing, despite having condemned

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

in 2013 as "a fad, or a scam, or a

ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...

, or worse." However, in May, 2013, he built a store to sell his book, "''Choose Yourself''" for Bitcoin a month before he released it on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

. He was interviewed by ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' about why he reversed his stance on Bitcoin. Altucher was a

seed investor Seed money, sometimes known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor invests capital in a startup company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develo ...

in Buddy Media, which later sold to

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, an ...

for $745 million in 2012. Altucher has a chapter giving advice in

Tim Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and '' ...

' book

Tools of Titans ''Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers'' (2016) is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, an American writer, educational activist, and entrepreneur. He interviewed more than 100 "wor ...

Podcasts

Question of the Day

In August 2015, Altucher launched a podcast with Stephen Dubner, co-author of ''

Freakonomics ''Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything'' is the debut non-fiction book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and ''New York Times'' journalist Stephen J. Dubner. Published on April 12, 2005, by Will ...

'', called ''Question of the Day'', based on questions from

Quora Quora () is a social question-and-answer website based in Mountain View, California. It was founded on June 25, 2009, and made available to the public on June 21, 2010. Users can collaborate by editing questions and commenting on answers that ...

. This has since finished but had a reunion in 2020.

''The James Altucher Show''

Altucher also hosts ''The James Altucher Show'', which has featured

Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...

, and

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of ''Th ...

, among others. Altucher says it has more than 40 million downloads.

Authorship

The author of over 20 books, Altucher's work has appeared on ''The Wall Street Journal'' best-seller list and ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

''s list of best business books of all time in 2014. * ''Skip the Line: The 10,000 Experiments Rule and Other Surprising Advice for Reaching Your Goals'' (2021) * ''What To Do When You Are Rejected?'' (2018) * ''Reinvent Yourself'' (2017) * ''My Daddy Owns All of Outer Space'' (2016) * ''The Power of ASK: Ask for What You Want, Get What You Want'' (2015) * ''The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth'' (2015) * ''The Rich Employee'' (2015) * ''The Power of No'' (2014) * ''The Choose Yourself Stories'' (2014) * ''Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream'' (2013) * ''The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Mediocre People'' (2013) * ''Faq Me'' (2012) * ''40 Alternatives to College'' (2012) * ''How To Be The Luckiest Person Alive!'' (2011) * ''I Was Blind But Now I See: Time to Be Happy'' (2011) * ''The Altucher Confidential: Ideas for a World Out of Balance, a Round Table Comic'' (2011) * ''The Wall Street Journal Guide to Investing in the Apocalypse: Make Money by Seeing Opportunity Where Others See Peril'' (2011) * ''The Forever Portfolio: How to Pick Stocks that You Can Hold for the Long Run'' (2008) * ''SuperCash: The New Hedge Fund Capitalism'' (2006) * ''Trade Like Warren Buffett'' (2005) * ''Trade Like a Hedge Fund: 20 Successful Uncorrelated Strategies and Techniques to Winning Profits'' (2004)

Personal life

Altucher is a co-owner of Stand Up NY, where he also performs

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

. He is a National Chess Master with an

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. The Elo system was invented as an improved ch ...

of 2204 as of 2012.

References

External links

James Altucher on CNBC in 2017
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Altucher, James 1968 births Living people 21st-century American non-fiction writers Cornell University alumni American bloggers American business writers American economics writers American finance and investment writers American hedge fund managers American male bloggers American male writers American podcasters Carnegie Mellon University alumni Jewish American writers People from North Brunswick, New Jersey