The Man Who Solved the Market: How Jim Simons Launched the Quant Revolution

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and shortlisted for the Financial Times/McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award, this annotation reveals the incredible journey of a secretive mathematician who revolutionized the algorithm era and amassed $23 billion in the process. Jim Simons stands as the most successful money maker in modern financial history, outpacing renowned investors like Warren Buffett and George Soros. Since 1988, the Medallion fund at Renaissance has achieved an astonishing average annual return of 66 percent, generating over $100 billion in profits, with Simons himself worth twenty-three billion dollars. Drawing on unique access to Simons and numerous current and former employees, the author, a seasoned Wall Street Journal investigative reporter, narrates how this world-class mathematician and ex-code breaker conquered the market through a data-driven, algorithmic strategy that has reshaped finance. As Renaissance grew, its influence extended beyond finance, with Simons becoming a key player in scientific research, education, and liberal politics. Notably, senior executive Robert Mercer played a significant role in the Trump presidency and the Brexit campaign. This work portrays a modern Midas who transformed markets yet struggled to foresee the broader implications of his success for his firm and the nation, ultimately raising questions about the impact of his revolution on society at large.