The hedge fund career of a Goldman Sachs "guru" looks like a warning
If Alex Blanchard had stayed at Goldman Sachs, he might have made partner. When he left the firm in July after 20 years in 2020, insiders said he was on track to make partner in the December promotion round.
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Instead, Blanchard went to Point72 where he briefly benefited from a tax-free life in Dubai. Now, though, Bloomberg reports that he's out for reasons that Point72 isn't elaborating upon and that Blanchard hasn't discussed either.
The unconfirmed suspicion is that Blanchard - who was described as a "STIR guru" at Goldman Sachs, lost money during April for reasons possibly related to the basis trade. Bloomberg reported previously that Alexander Phillips, one of the top basis traders at hedge fund Tudor, lost $140m in early April as Trump's tariffs upended markets. Phillips is still at Tudor but was said to be down $80m on the year as a result.
Blanchard's pre-Point72 Goldman career appears to have been less tempestuous. After joining shortly before the financial crisis, he climbed the GS ladder and collected the GS bonuses.
By comparison, losses made at hedge funds must be recouped before portfolio managers are eligible for a bonus. As trader Brett Donnelly has observed, this is an uphill task: “If you lose 1%, you need to make more than 1% to get back to flat.” This isn't easy when your risk has been cut too.
Either Blanchard or Point72 has decided to call it a day. If he wants another hedge fund job, the $8bn basis trade market is waiting. If he wants to go back to a bank, a STIR desk will surely be glad to have him. In the meantime, Dubai is a difficult place to be unemployed.
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