As seen on the web at IvyGate.
While Rupert Murdoch’s fugly mug steals the front page of every major newspaper this morning, it’s Harvard’s endowment that’s featured front-and-center in today’s Money & Investing section of the Wall Street Journal — and according to the paper, the endowment fund graduates as many sought-after money managers as the university graduates future journalists.
But all isn’t good in Crimson Country this morning, as the Journal reports that the university lost $350 million last month through an investment in a hedge-fund firm founded by former Harvard foreign-stock holdings manager Jeffrey Larson.
Seems that Harvard education — in this case, experience — isn’t quite paying off. How’s that old saying go? You shouldn’t shit where you sleep?
Though $350 million is a “relatively small hit” for the nation-leading $29 billion Harvard endowment, the Journal says it’s a good case of maybe-not-quite-what-to-do for the rest of academe: “It highlights the risks as colleges nationwide embrace nontraditional investments such as hedge funds and private equity.”
As it turns out, Larson isn’t the only high-profile former Harvard-endowment manager with a mixed record since departing from Cambridge, leading the Journal to conclude that Harvard might be paying its managers a bit too much — in the millions, more than Nobel Laureates and deans — to manage Harvard’s big baby.
Now this kind of news ain’t exactly kegstands and Sharpie-shaming, but it means a lot more for the continued existence of the fabled Ivy heirarchy Newell mentioned in his last post. After all, when it comes to a pissing match, it’s all about distance — and there’s no ignoring the New York Times’ golden profile of Yale’s money man earlier this year.
Ball’s in your court, Elis. — ANDREW NUSCA