Louis Bacon
Bacon in 2012
Born
Louis Moore Bacon

(1956-07-25) July 25, 1956
Raleigh, North Carolina, US
EducationMiddlebury College
Columbia University
OccupationHedge fund manager
Years active1989-present
Known forFounding and leading Moore Capital Management
Children7

Louis Moore Bacon (born July 25, 1956) is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is the founder and chief executive of Moore Capital Management.

Forbes Magazine estimates his net worth to be US$1.81 billion, making him the 374th richest person on the Forbes 400 as of February 2017.[1]

Early life and education

Bacon was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on July 25, 1956. His father, Zachary Bacon Jr., founded real estate company Bacon & Co. and later led Prudential Financial’s and Merrill Lynch’s real estate efforts in North Carolina.[2]

Bacon graduated from Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia. He attended Middlebury College in Vermont where he received his BA in American literature, graduating in 1979.[2][3] Bacon met Walter Frank while he was working on a fishing boat on Long Island. He was given a job clerking at the specialist firm Walter N. Frank & Co during the summers of his college years.[2] He subsequently received his MBA degree in finance at Columbia Business School in 1981.[2][4]

While at Columbia, Bacon traded commodities using a low interest loan he had received. During the first three semesters, he lost money and was forced to borrow money from his father to pay for necessities. He turned a profit during his fourth semester.[5]

Investment career

After receiving his MBA, Bacon joined the sales and trading program at Bankers Trust. Later he left the firm and returned to Walter N. Frank & Co. where he traded currencies. Bacon took a job on the floor of the New York Cotton Exchange, working as a "runner".[2] Bacon later worked as a broker and trader of financial futures at Shearson Lehman Brothers and eventually became the senior vice president for their futures trading division.[2][4][6]

In 1987 Bacon founded Remington Trading Partners. His market insights allowed him to profit during the market crash and subsequent rebound.[2] In 1989, Bacon used his middle name when he founded Moore Capital Management LLC; in 1990 he founded Moore Global Investments, using $25,000 inherited from his family.[2]

In 2006, Forbes magazine ranked Bacon as the 746th richest person in the world;[3] in 2011 it ranked him as the 736th richest man.[7] In 2010, the Denver Post reported that Bacon's net worth of $1.6 billion ranked him as the 238th richest American.[8] In March 2010 Forbes Magazine estimated Bacon's net worth to be $1.5 billion, and ranked him as the 655th richest person in the world.[3]

In December 2013, Bacon purchased Taos Ski Valley from the Blake family, who had owned it since 1954.[9]

As of March 2022, Bacon holds a substantial interest in EV startup, Fisker Inc. with Bacon's Moore Capital Management holding 8.45 million Fisker shares.[10]

Lawsuits

Libel suit

In May 2011, Bacon obtained a court order in Great Britain, where he owned property, compelling the Wikimedia Foundation, WordPress and the Denver Post to reveal the identity of anonymous persons who allegedly defamed him on their websites. The court granted Bacon's application to serve a Norwich Pharmacal Order by email against these websites. Bacon sought the order so that he could launch defamation proceedings against online commenters he alleged to have posted libelous material about him on these websites.[11]

In May 2011, the High Court in London granted Bacon a court order to obtain information from the Wikimedia Foundation, The Denver Post, and WordPress as to the identities of internet users alleged to have defamed him by their postings. Legal experts suggested compliance with the orders was unlikely, given the US tradition of freedom of speech, and the fact that US courts typically required "actual evidence or sufficient allegations of libel" before granting similar orders.[12][13]

Legal experts did not believe the order was enforceable in the United States because of its policy related to freedom of speech. Initially, the Foundation agreed to give the information to Bacon's solicitors,[14] but later said it would cooperate only with a court order in the U.S., saying "Please note that we do not comply with foreign subpoenas absent an immediate threat to life or limb."[11][15] Automattic, which owns WordPress, said Bacon would need a court order but agreed to remove any defamatory material from its websites.[14]

Peter Nygård lawsuits

He was in a legal dispute with Canadian fashion executive Peter Nygård for several years in regards starting with a dispute over their adjoining properties in Bahamas. From 2007 onwards, the dispute escalated to include 16 legal actions between Nygård and Louis Bacon and their associates.[16] In 2005, Nygård installed a large concrete slab on Louis Bacon's property and then Bacon sought and obtained a court injunction to remove it. In 2007, Bacon, installed industrial-grade speakers at the edge of his property and pointed them at Nygård's house.[17] In the summer of 2010, Bacon's house was raided by Bahamian police, leading to the confiscation of the speakers. Bacon claimed it was the work of Nygård, a claim he denied.[17]

In early 2019, it was reported that Peter Nygård had filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Court in Manhattan alleging that Bacon had violated sections of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.[18] Vanity Fair reported that Nygård also used fake news sites to smear Bacon. In January 2015, Bacon filed a defamation lawsuit against Nygård over these claims.[17] A New York judge awarded Bacon more than $203 million on May 5, 2023, in damages. The court order said that Nygård had conducted a global smear campaign over almost a decade, saying that it was “a deliberate plan by Nygård to personally and professionally destroy Bacon”.[19]

Personal life

In 1986 Bacon married Cynthia Pigott,[4] a former Newsweek magazine staff reporter. They divorced in 2002, after having four children together.[5]

In 2007, he married Gabrielle Sacconaghi in Manhattan.[20][21]

In November 2007, Bacon purchased the Trinchera Ranch in Costilla County, Colorado from the Forbes family. The 171,400-acre (694 km2) property sold for $175 million.[22] In 2010, Bacon purchased the Orton Plantation in North Carolina, which was built in 1735 by an ancestor, Roger Moore, son of James Moore.[23]

In 2002 Bacon obtained Austrian citizenship, due to a special provision for figures who have made notable achievements for Austria. The decision was criticised, as no achievement by Bacon on behalf of Austria was documented.[24]

Political and economic views

Bacon contributed £500,000 to Britain's Conservative Party between 2010 and 2016.[25] Bacon also served as a fundraiser for American politician Mitt Romney, who was elected governor of Massachusetts and later ran for president.[26] In 2015, Bacon donated $1 million to a Super PAC supporting the presidential candidacy of Jeb Bush.[27]

Wealth

In 1991, Bacon was 20th on the list of Financial World's Top 100 Wall Street Earners list.[28]

Philanthropy

In 1992, Bacon created The Moore Charitable Foundation (MCF) to provide financial support to nonprofit organizations that work to preserve and protect wildlife habitat and improve water systems.[29] Bacon has donated more than one million dollars to the environmental non-profit organization Riverkeeper.[30][31]

In June 2012, United States Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar and United States Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel M. Ashe announced Bacon intends to donate a conservation easement totaling approximately 90,000 acres in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains bordering the San Luis Valley in Colorado. This easement will provide the founding tract for the proposed new Sangre de Cristo Conservation Area.[32]

Bacon owns the Trinchera Blanca Ranch located in the San Luis Valley. The Trinchera section of the ranch is currently protected by an easement administered by Colorado Open Lands. The new conservation easement Bacon intends to donate is to protect Blanca – thus protecting all 172,000 acres of land.[33]

In addition to his work in Colorado, Bacon has helped preserve and protect environmentally sensitive land in New York, North Carolina, and the Bahamas. His key conservation projects include:

  • Robins Island, Long Island, New York: After purchasing the "Jewel of the Peconic" in 1993, Bacon secured the permanent protection of the land through a conservation easement and set about restoring a natural habitat that had been deteriorating for 300 years.[34]
  • Cow Neck Farm, Long Island, New York: Bacon's Cow Neck Preserve, LLC purchased the farm in 1998 and donated a 540-acre conservation easement to the Peconic Land Trust, thus preventing development and ensuring the protection of the area's habitat.[35][36]
  • Lyford Cay, Bahamas: Bacon is involved with the environmental restoration of Lyford Cay.

Legacy and awards

In 2008, he was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame.[37]

He is the 2013 recipient of the Audubon Medal, given in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field of conservation and environmental protection.[38] In 2016, Bacon received a Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership's Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award for authorizing conservation easements on more than 210,600 acres in the US.[39]

References

  1. ↑ "Louis Bacon". Forbes. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Louis Bacon: Macro maestro, Stephen Taub, July 1, 2011, Retrieved July 17, 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 "Louis Moore Bacon". Forbes 400. March 2006. Retrieved August 10, 2006.
  4. 1 2 3 "Cynthia Pigott married to Louis Bacon". The New York Times. February 16, 1986. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  5. 1 2 Dyan Machan (December 20, 2004). "Macro Moneymaker". Forbes.
  6. ↑ "Louis Bacon". atrader.com. June 6, 2010. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
  7. ↑ "The World's Billionaires - Forbes.com". forbes.com. 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  8. ↑ Blevins, Jason (November 28, 2010). "Billionaire Louis Bacon battles to protect his ranch from big utilities' solar-power plans". Denver Post. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  9. ↑ Rohwedder, Cecilie (April 24, 2014). "Louis Bacon Tries to Turn Around Taos Ski Valley". WSJ. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  10. ↑ "The 5 Stocks Billionaire Louis Bacon Can't Stop Buying". Insider Monkey. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  11. 1 2 Halliday, Josh (May 9, 2011). "US billionaire wins high court order over Wikipedia 'defamation'". the Guardian. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  12. ↑ Halliday, Josh (May 9, 2011). "US billionaire wins high court order over Wikipedia 'defamation'". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  13. ↑ Luisa Kroll (May 10, 2011). "U.S. Law Protects Anonymous Speech, Not Billionaires". Forbes.
  14. 1 2 "Hedge fund boss wins Wikipedia case". Daily Telegraph. London, England. May 10, 2011.
  15. ↑ Kroll, Luisa. "U.S. Law Protects Anonymous Speech, Not Billionaires". Forbes. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  16. ↑ Dolmetsch, Chris (April 24, 2018). "Billionaire Bacon's Defamation Suit Against Nygard Revived". bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on October 4, 2018. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  17. 1 2 3 Konigsberg, Eric (December 6, 2015). "The Billionaire Battle in the Bahamas". Vanity Fair. No. January. Archived from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  18. ↑ Santin, Aldo (February 22, 2019). "Peter Nygard files RICO suit against billionaire Bahamas neighbour". Winnipeg Free Press.
  19. ↑ Edgecliffe-Johnson, Andrew (May 4, 2023). "Hedge fund billionaire Louis Bacon awarded $203mn in defamation feud". Financial Times. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
  20. ↑ "Meet cash king Louis Bacon: the richest hedge fund manager in London". London Evening Standard. April 23, 2010. Archived from the original on January 11, 2012. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  21. ↑ "Weddings and celebrations - Gabrielle Sacconaghi, Louis Bacon". New York Times. February 2, 2007. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  22. ↑ Hooper, Troy (November 28, 2007). "Conservationist buys state's biggest ranch". The Denver Post. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Orton Plantation Sold to Billionaire". WHQR. May 6, 2010. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Grassers Staatsbürger". news.at. December 12, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2017.
  25. ↑ Rigby, Elizabeth (May 26, 2023). "Tory donor funds British marine reserve" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  26. ↑ Somaiya, Ravi (July 6, 2011). "Romney Holds London Fund-Raiser". New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Million-Dollar Donors in the 2016 Presidential Race". New York Times. August 25, 2015. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  28. ↑ Peltz, Lois (2001). The New Investment Superstars. Wiley. p. Intro, 5-6, 8, 9, 146. ISBN 0-471-40313-X.
  29. ↑ "Board of Overseers: About: Louis Bacon '81". Columbia Business School. Archived from the original on December 14, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  30. ↑ "Helping Protect the Hudson River". Wall Street Journal. April 22, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Non profit news and comments - "Donor of the Day: Helping Protect the Hudson River." by Melanie Grace West". Wall Street Journal via hausercentre.org. April 22, 2011. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  32. ↑ "AMERICA'S GREAT OUTDOORS: Salazar, Ashe Announce Historic Conservation Easement in Sangre de Cristo Mountains". U.S. Department of the Interior. June 15, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  33. ↑ Finley, Bruce (June 15, 2012). "90,000 Colorado acres offered for national protected area". The Denver Post. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  34. ↑ Raver, Anne (March 21, 1996). "GARDEN NOTEBOOK;Paradise Returns (With Heliport)". New York Times. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  35. ↑ "TERN ISLAND". Newsday. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  36. ↑ "Landmark Land Gift From Funds Trader". Newsday. Retrieved August 30, 2012.
  37. ↑ "Cohen, Simons, 12 Others Enter Hedge Fund Hall". Institutional Investor. Institutional Investor LLC. September 23, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
  38. ↑ "Louis Bacon Receives Audubon Medal for Conservation, Environmental Work". Moore Charitable Foundation. January 18, 2013. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 28, 2015.
  39. ↑ "TRCP TO CELEBRATE THREE EXTRAORDINARY CHAMPIONS OF HABITAT CONSERVATION". Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. January 14, 2016.
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