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0 pointsethbr12y ago0 comments

> and the thousands under them are getting salaries.

The difference is that these thousands also get to invest in Jane Street, which seems a pretty profitable investment (70% margins, etc).

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8 comments · 1 top-level

paxys2y ago· 7 in thread

Typically at such companies you have to be at the very top of the hierarchy to be able to buy in and get a slice of the profits. It is very unlikely that rank and file employees are able to participate, at least at a scale larger than, say, a Google employee buying some extra shares.

__oh_es2y ago

$100k buy in at the hedgefund I know. Its a big figure for most but starting salaries, friends & family, and personal loans will get you there.

>20% return is quite easy to justify. You're also looking at a 50%-200% annual bonus, mostly leaning to the higher end of the range.

Its a very different world!

barneygale2y ago

> $100k buy in at the hedgefund I know. Its a big figure for most but starting salaries, friends & family, and personal loans will get you there.

Surely this is a HN culture bubble? Very few people can borrow tens of thousands of dollars from family and friends to lend to a hedge fund. Not only would I be refused, I'd damage friendships by exposing the moral vacuum at my core.

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Scoundreller2y ago

Big Canadian bank I know had something like a requirement to own $450k of shares to be a board member. But they sliding scale exempted you for your first 5 years and gave you $90k in shares each year, so as long as number go up, there was no actual outlay.

mywittyname2y ago

I would think JS pays most of their employees well enough that the buy in can be waived, or as part of total comp that vests over some years.

alxhill2y ago

For what it's worth, a friend of mine is a lawyer in a well-known hedge fund and he gets access to their funds too (funds that would not otherwise be accessible without making a substantially larger investment I believe).

robertlagrant2y ago

If you can afford to buy in to a company that valuable then you probably aren't a regular employee, yes.

ethbr1OP2y ago

Afaik (not my field, but well-docunented) prop shops like Jane Street don't take outside money.

So they're incentivized to allow as many of their employees to invest as possible.

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