Trading profits and a hedge fund empire
Cohen made his fortune as a stock trader and hedge fund manager. He began his career on Wall Street in 1978 as a junior options trader and became known for unusually consistent short term trading profits. In 1992 he left to start his own fund, SAC Capital Advisors, with money from his own trading and outside investors.
SAC Capital became famous for high returns and for charging some of the highest fees in the industry. It grew into a large firm in Stamford, Connecticut, employing many portfolio managers, each running their own book of trades with strict risk limits. Because Cohen kept a large share of the fees and invested his own wealth in the fund, his personal fortune grew rapidly.
In the late 2000s federal prosecutors and regulators investigated insider trading at SAC. Several current and former employees were convicted. In 2013 the firm pleaded guilty to securities fraud and paid a record penalty, and it stopped managing money for outside investors. Cohen himself was not criminally charged. A civil case by the Securities and Exchange Commission ended with an agreement that barred him from managing outside money for two years.
The firm continued as a family office managing his own fortune, renamed Point72, and later reopened to outside investors.
Point72, the Mets and other assets
Cohen's main holdings include:
- Point72 Asset Management: the investment firm based in Stamford that succeeded SAC Capital. It reopened to outside capital in 2018 and runs a multi manager hedge fund along with venture and private investments.
- Point72 Ventures and Hyperion: units that invest in early stage technology and in artificial intelligence related strategies.
- New York Mets: Cohen bought control of the baseball team from the Wilpon and Katz families in 2020. Since then he has spent heavily on players and facilities and has proposed a large development around Citi Field in Queens.
- Art collection: he is one of the most active collectors of modern and contemporary art, with works by artists such as Picasso, Giacometti and Jeff Koons.
His personal wealth is tied to the performance of Point72, the value of his stake in the Mets and the value of his art and property. He lives in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Long Island beginnings
Steven Alan Cohen was born in 1956 in Great Neck, New York, on Long Island. His father ran a business that made dresses and his mother taught piano. He has said that he became interested in the stock market as a teenager, watching prices on a stock ticker and playing poker with friends.
He studied economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and graduated in 1978. He then joined Gruntal & Co., a brokerage firm in New York, as an options arbitrage trader. He quickly became one of the firm's most profitable traders and was given a team of traders to run.
After more than a decade at Gruntal, he started SAC Capital in 1992 with his own capital and a group of colleagues. The firm's name came from his initials.
Cohen has been married twice. His second wife, Alexandra Cohen, is a partner in many of his charitable projects. He has been the subject of books and was widely seen as an inspiration for a character in the television series Billions, although the show's makers said the character was fictional.
Foundations, veterans and medical research
Cohen's main charitable vehicle is the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, which funds work in health, education, the arts and support for children.
One of its largest areas of focus is the mental health of military veterans. In 2016 the couple created the Cohen Veterans Network, a group of clinics across the United States that offer free or low cost therapy for post-traumatic stress and related problems to veterans and their families. They also fund the Cohen Veterans Bioscience research organization.
The foundation has supported research into Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, an area that receives relatively little funding. The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Children's Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York, part of the Northwell Health system, bears their name after a large gift.
In sports, Cohen's ownership of the Mets has made him a public figure in New York, and he engages often with fans on social media. He has also donated to political campaigns, mostly to candidates he sees as supportive of business.