Jim Chanos started Kynikos Associates in 1985 and the group has since become the world’s largest exclusive short-selling investment firm. As of mid 2015, The hedge fund manages approximately $6 billion in assets.
Throughout his investment career, Chanos has identified and sold short the shares of numerous well-known
corporate financial disasters; among them Baldwin-United, Commodore International, Coleco, Integrated Resources, Boston Chicken, Sunbeam, Conseco and Tyco International. His celebrated short-sale of Enron shares was dubbed by Barron’s as “the market call of the decade, if not the past fifty years.”
Chanos’ most famous short landed Chanos on the cover of Barron’s in 2002 as “The Guy Who Called Enron.” But the list of his targets stretches from Michael Milken’s junk bond empire through the real estate boom of the late 1980s, the telecom bubble of the late 1990s, Dennis Kozlowski’s Tyco and Bernie Ebbers’s WorldCom at the turn of the century, subprime mortgage lenders and home builders in 2007, and most recently China.
For more on Jim Chanos, head over to ValueWalk’s Jim Chanos Resource Page, where you can find a detailed rundown of his background, bio and investment philosophy.
Jim Chanos: Recommended books
The Match King: Ivar Kreuger, The Financial Genius Behind a Century of Wall Street Scandals
Frank Paternoy. The story of a 20th century Swedish businessman named Ivar Kreugar, who convinced everyone that he’s a tycoon in the match business. Really, he just borrowed money in the U.S. and loaned it out in Europe in exchange for match companies.
Bernard Baruch: The Adventures of a Wall Street Legend
James Grant. This biography of Bernard Baruch considered to be renowned as the definitive story about the notorious financial wizard and presidential advisor.
Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies, and Three Battles
Bernard Cornwell
The Shareholder Value Myth: How Putting Shareholders First Harms Investors, Corporations, and the Public
Lynn Stout
This story originally appeared in ValueWalk.
Photo: Asia Society