His latest move to chop 10 to 15 investment jobs in his company came as a shock to the business world who consider such a move to be drastic and out of the ordinary. “Apart from a few hedge funds, it’s not that typical to see a large reduction in headcount in the industry,” said Ronen Schwartzman, founder of Ten Capital Advisors LLC, a New York- based firm that advises clients on investing in hedge funds. “Performance must be having an impact.”
To make matters worse, Bacon won't even stand up to the employees who have faithfully served him at Moore investments as portfolio managers and research analysts. He has recruited his brother, Zack Hampton Bacon III to speak with the staff members about the axe; and security guards were waiting to escort him out of the building.
This move caused much attention to turn to Moore Investments, and the results have not been pretty. Here's how Dealbreaker summed up the hedge fund czar: "One thing you may or may not know about hedge fund manager Louis Bacon is that he likes to keep his human interactions to a minimum. It’s not a personal thing, just people in general thing. He doesn’t like ‘em and he doesn’t want to talk to or look at ‘em. For example, rather than taking five minutes to tell a subordinate he disagrees with a trade idea, Bacon has been known instead to retreat to his office and place an opposing trade, a tactic known as ‘fading’ a colleague.” Clients are treated similarly (“During meetings with…investors, Bacon, who often draws the blinds in his private office, frequently turns to his lieutenants to answer questions, often sitting silently through presentations”) and if you thought that being, say, the fruit of his loins meant special treatment, you were sorely mistaken (“One longtime assistant negotiates annual spending allowances with the elder of his children individually…Once they’ve agreed on the number, the assistant invites the child for a sit-down meeting with his or her father, during which Bacon usually signs off on the terms”).
The Financial Times referred to him as "publicity shy", while many other business reports pointed out how elusive Bacon is - a trait which has helped him to steer clear of some meaningful questions concerning criminal activity.
In the meantime, he is making inroads for his most recent philanthropic donation. He has vowed to protect thousands of acres of land in Colorado if the federal government moves ahead with plans to create a new 5 million acre conservation corridor in Colorado and New Mexico. He has fought efforts by energy companies to put transmission lines across his land. Maybe reporters covering the conservation angles should see how Bacon's environmental record stanched up in the Bahamas.
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