WorldQuant's Igor Tulchinsky just guaranteed his team 75% of last year's performance bonus to soothe nerves as quant funds get slammed
- WorldQuant's Igor Tulchinsky has promised his team that they will receive 75% of their performance bonus from last year in a company-wide communication recently, Business Insider has learned.
- A source close to the firm said the goal was to limit distractions for the team as they went into the fourth quarter of the year.
- Quants generally have had a tough year, with many getting hit hard by the collapse in momentum stocks earlier this month.
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It's been a tough year so far for quant funds, but WorldQuant employees can breathe a little easier now.
Even if the Millennium spin-off's performance completely tanks for 2019, quants, researchers, investors, and more that work for Igor Tulchinsky know that their bonuses can only shrink so much.
The quant platform, which manages more than $7 billion, sent out a company-wide communication recently confirming that employees will receive at least 75% of last year's performance bonus this year.
A source close to the firm told Business Insider that the goal of the guarantee is so employees are not worried about getting paid in a year that has been tough on quants.
The firm declined to comment. WorldQuant's performance isn't often broken out from Millennium's overall performance, which is up roughly 6% through the end of July. The firm's flagship was up nearly 5% last year when the average hedge fund lost money.
A big part of compensation in the hedge fund industry is typically tied to performance bonuses on top of base salaries. That can mean big paydays in good years, but relatively leaner pay checks when fund performance is weak.
Quant funds have had a rough year. Traditional stock-pickers like Pershing Square and Greenlight Capital have dominated while firms like Renaissance Technologies and Winton Group have been mediocre. More competition in the quant space has pushed up prices for talent as well as unique datasets.
WorldQuant has tried to push down the costs for alternative data by running a platform that lets data providers come directly to them instead of going through an aggregation platform or a data-buyer.
The collapse in momentum stocks earlier this month also hit many quants that took bearish bets on traditional value stocks while piling into well-performing equities.
"Everything that worked all year got sacked and whacked," one quant told Business Insider earlier this month.