Tiger Global chief Scott Shleifer moves into advisory role after wild ride

The firm has made rapid investments in startups for years, driving up valuations in some cases, but returns were hurt when the market abruptly changed.

Global Tiger Management is undergoing a major change in direction. According to a message from founder Chase Coleman sent this afternoon to the 22-year-old firm’s limited partners, Coleman is taking over both the firm’s public company investing and private equity operations, while chief of the latter, Scott Shleifer, becomes a senior. advisor, a role that is a full-time position with no end date, according to a source with knowledge of the maneuver.

An active investor in venture funds and hedge funds, Tiger’s private equity business was previously led by Lee Fixel, who stepped down to hang his own shingle in March 2019. Fixel went on to raise a number of funds multi-billion dollar investment in this company, called Addition.

At the time, Shleifer and Coleman remained co-managers of the portfolios overseen by Fixel, with Shleifer taking over as CEO. But he took control of what, in retrospect, turned out to be a difficult time for the company. After announcing in January 2020 that Tiger Global had raised $3.75 billion in commitments for its 12th fund, Schleifer put his foot to the metal, overseeing an operation that made bold bets at a rapid pace despite valuations already high. For a time, investors were so happy with the strategy – which seemed to work – that they awarded Tiger a massive $12.7 billion vehicle that it closed in March 2022 after just four months of raising money. funds.

The timing of the fund couldn’t have been worse. Driven by rising interest rates, the public, then private, market began to fall rapidly, and with it, Tiger’s largely paper returns. Indeed, although the company began marketing its new fund, Private Investment Partners Fund 16, to investors 13 months ago, with a target of $6 billion, it has not yet closed, according to a source.

This story is developing, but you can read Coleman’s letter to investors below.

Dear investor,
We are writing to inform you that Scott Shleifer has decided to move his role at Tiger Global to Senior.
Advisor, effective January 1, 2024. In his new role, Scott will advise on our investment activities across the globe.
the extent of our private funds.

As part of this transition, Tiger Global is forming an investment committee for our Private Equity business,
which I will chair, composed of Evan Feinberg, Eric Lane, Griffin Schroeder and Scott, who will support me
in reviewing new investments and supervising asset disposals. We remain very focused on value
maximizing our private funds and, as a significant investor in all of these funds, Scott, our colleague
the members of the investment committee and I are closely connected to you and share an intense commitment to
generating strong returns.

Scott’s decision to make this move after two decades of successful partnership was largely based on geography.
Tiger Global operates in-person from our New York offices, while Scott and his family have made their
home in Florida and I want to stay there. We have found that it is extremely important to have everyone together in New York.
productive and a better operating model for our company.

I cannot overstate my gratitude to Scott for what he has brought to the firm over the past 20 years, and I
understand and support their decision. Scott is a world-class investor who helped launch our Private Equity
by wisely identifying undervalued private Internet companies in China in 2003, forming the basis
for Tiger Global Private Investment Partners I. He is one of the true pioneers of the crossover investment model
and his passion, drive and commitment have led to many highly profitable investments for the company, including
JD.com, Ctrip.com, ByteDance, Booking.com, Apollo and Google.

As Scott transitions into his new role, our broad group of talented professionals – many of whom are hired and mentored by
Scott – are ready to step up their efforts. We have continued to invest in world-class talent in recent years, increasing our
investment and research team of twelve people since the beginning of 2021, and we plan to continue adding it
new talents into this group selectively. We believe that our existing portfolio, our company-wide research efforts and our
ongoing dialogue with companies places our private equity activity in a very good position to continue to
execute against our long-term investment objectives.

As recent months have been slower for new investments in private markets and the performance of our public funds
has improved, we have continued to invest in the technology infrastructure we have developed since Eric Lane
joined the firm, deeply mining data and research to improve our decision-making process.
The Tiger Global team, Scott, and I are grateful for your trust and partnership. Please
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions and thank you for your continued engagement.

Sincerely,
Chase Coleman