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Tiger Cub Goel Closes $11 Billion Firm, Citing Health Issues

Work space at Facebook New office at 30 Hudson Yards, New York.Wednesday 29 September 2021Photographer : Amir Hamja For Bloomberg (Amir Hamja/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- David Goel, who worked for hedge fund titan Julian Robertson before launching Matrix Capital Management 25 years ago, is shuttering his $11 billion firm and returning client cash. 

Goel told clients in a letter that he made the decision to close his hedge fund due to health problems, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because it is private. He didn’t disclose the nature of his illness, and the firm declined to comment. 

Goel, who co-founded Matrix in 1999 with Paul Ferri, is principal owner of the firm and has ultimate authority over all investment decisions and business affairs, regulatory filings say. 

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based firm has kept a relatively low profile compared with other so-called Tiger Cubs, the hedge fund managers who trained under Tiger Management founder Robertson. Matrix makes concentrated, tech-focused stock bets in its hedge fund — where the majority of assets lie — and also has a private equity fund. 

Matrix’s hedge fund has posted mostly double-digit gains since it started trading, but also had four down years - the worst being in 2008, when the fund sunk 39.5%, according to a document seen by Bloomberg. 

Goel spent three years at Tiger Management as a technology research analyst, before leaving in 1999 to start Matrix. His firm invests largely on stocks related to artificial intelligence and digital acceleration in the life sciences industry as well as focusing on semiconductors, generative artificial intelligence and machine learning, the document says. The firm’s biggest holdings as of June 30 were Nvidia Corp., Qualcomm Inc. and TransDigm Group Inc. a regulatory filing shows. 

In 2019, he and his wife donated $100 million to his alma mater, Harvard University to create the David E. and Stacy L. Goel Center for Creativity and Performance. 

--With assistance from Nishant Kumar and Gillian Tan.

(Updates with more details from fifth paragraph)

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