Point72 Asset Management

History

2014 to 2019

Point72 has origins to 1992 with the founding of S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a group of hedge funds founded by Steve Cohen. S.A.C pled guilty to federal charges in 2013 after an 11 year investigation into insider trading. Point72 was founded in 2014 by Steve Cohen as the successor to S.A.C. with the bulk of S.A.C.'s assets being transferred to Point72. Under an S.E.C. agreement, Point72 was initially not allowed to manage money from outside investors. The firm initially hired Vincent Tortorella as chief surveillance officer and Kevin J. O’Connor an in-house attorney. Douglas D. Haynes was appointed president.

In 2015, the firm created Point72 Academy, a 15-month paid program to train college graduates to work for the firm. That same year, the firm started Point72 Ventures, a venture capital unit focused on developing financial technology.

In 2018, the restriction on managing outside money was lifted and Point72 opened its first hedge fund, securing $3 billion in capital from approximately 20 institutions. Shaughnessy retired in 2018 and was replaced by Gavin O'Connor, who joined the firm from Goldman Sachs. In March 2018, it was reported by the New York Times that Haynes resigned as president "amid [a] gender bias lawsuit, with Cohen assuming the role of president.

2020 to present

In August 2020, the firm closed to new money with just over $17 billion under management.

In March 2020, Point72 hired Mo Grimeh as head of its macro investing business, and created Point72 Hyperscale, a hybrid venture and private equity fund for early-stage AI technology companies.

In January 2021, along with Ken Griffin's Citadel Investments, Point72 contributed $750 million to a $2.75 billion emergency bailout of Melvin Capital, a hedge fund that had incurred deep losses in the GameStop short squeeze; Melvin Capital is run by Gabe Plotkin, a former protégé of Steven Cohen and one of the managers of SAC whose trades were investigated by the SEC. In the first half of 2021, Point72 was reported to have lost $500 million on its investment in Melvin Capital.

In June 2025, Point72 Ventures helped fund series A for CX2, a military technology startup. In 2025, Point72 Turion began as a stock-picking hedge fund focused on AI, with Reuters reporting the fund holding approximately $1.5 billion as of January of 2025.

Operations

Point72 Asset Management operates as a multi-strategy hedge fund, employing discretionary long/short equity, systematic, macro, and venture capital strategies. The firm also manages internal proprietary capital and capital from select external investors.

As of late 2025, Point72 reports managing approximately US$41.5 billion in assets and employing more than 3,000 people across offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

In November 2025, the firm announced a structural reorganization of its equities division. Beginning January 1, 2026, its fundamental equities business will operate as two entities: the existing Point72 Equities, and a newly established affiliate, Valist Asset Management. The restructuring is aimed at enhancing investment flexibility and team specialization.

Point72 is also expanding into private markets. In 2025, the firm began raising capital for a private credit strategy, targeting at least US$1 billion. This move reflects a broader industry trend of hedge funds entering alternative lending markets as institutional investors seek stable, yield-oriented alternatives to public debt.

The firm also maintains a significant quantitative trading operation through its Cubist Systematic Strategies division, which employs data-driven and algorithmic strategies across global markets. In September 2025, Cubist replaced its head, Denis Dancanet, with Geoffrey Lauprete, formerly of WorldQuant.

Gender bias lawsuits

The firm has faced multiple lawsuits from employees alleging gender and pay discrimination. In September 2020, Point72 settled a gender and pay discrimination suit brought by Lauren Bonner, the company’s former Head of Talent Analytics.

References

References

1. "About72".
2. "Leadership - Our Leaders". Point72.
3. Kishan, Saijel. (October 22, 2015). "Point72's Haynes Says 'Cost of Being Excellent' Keeps Going Up". Bloomberg.
4. point72.com. [https://www.point72.com/ Homepage] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-03-05 . Accessed 2016-03-01.)
5. Kate Kelly. [https://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/11/the-second-coming-of-steven-cohen.html The second coming of Steven Cohen] {{Webarchive. link. (2017-10-21 . CNBC. 2016-01-11. Accessed 2016-03-01.)
6. "Locations - Meet Us Where Great Talent Lives". Point72.
7. Foxman, Simone. (March 10, 2015). "Cohen's Firm said to hire 30 seeking edge in public data". Bloomberg.
8. (16 February 2017). "How Steven Cohen survived an insider trading scandal". Financial Times.
9. (4 November 2013). "After a Decade, SAC Capital Blinks". New York Times.
10. "Steven A. Cohen - Point72 Asset Management". Point72 Asset Management.
11. Burton, Katherine. (April 8, 2014). "Cohen hires Tortorella as Surveillance Chief for Point72". Bloomberg.
12. (6 May 2015). "Point72 Hires Ex-Prosecutor as General Counsel". New York Times.
13. Burton, Katherine. (May 20, 2015). "IBM's O'Shaughnessy Hired as COO by Point72". Bloomberg.
14. (20 June 2024). "Hedge Fund Talent Schools Are Looking for the Perfect Trader".
15. Crowe, Portia. (1 October 2015). "Inside Steve Cohen's groundbreaking 'Academy' poaching young talent from Wall Street".
16. (31 October 2016). "Billionaire Steven Cohen's training academy turns global".
17. Weiss, Miles. (3 May 2016). "Cohen's Point72 Starts Venture Unit to Fund Financial Technology".
18. (11 January 2018). "Steve Cohen Points72 Hedge Fund Amasses 3 Billion Closing to Investors". Business Insider.
19. Hall, Phil. (September 20, 2018). "Two new executives named at Point72". Daily Voice.
20. (17 March 2018). "President of Steven Cohen's Investment Firm Quits Amid Gender Bias Lawsuit". New York Times.
21. (2019-07-03). "Hedgie claims misogyny accusations made him 'unemployable'".
22. Picker, Leslie. (Jul 30, 2020). "Steve Cohen's Point72 closing to new money". CNBC.
23. McDonald, Michael. (July 29, 2020). "Steve Cohen's Point72 Closing to New Money After Raising $10 Billion". Bloomberg.
24. (2020-07-30). "Point72 closing to new money after raising $10 billion".
25. Kumar, Nishant. (11 December 2023). "Billionaire Steve Cohen Pushes Point72 Deeper Into Macro Trading".
26. (6 March 2020). "Steven A. Cohen Raising New Fund to Invest in Private Companies".
27. (January 25, 2021). "Citadel, Point72 Back Melvin With $2.75 Billion After Losses".
28. (February 2, 2021). "Steve Cohen's Point72 Raises $1.5 Billion After Melvin Capital Infusion".
29. (2025-02-03). "Steve Cohen's Point72 raises $1.5 billion after supporting Melvin Capital during the GameStop saga, report says".
30. Chung, Juliet. (2021-01-25). "WSJ News Exclusive {{!}} Citadel, Point72 to Invest $2.75 Billion Into Melvin Capital Management". Wall Street Journal.
31. (2012-12-19). "SAC's top consumer trader draws scrutiny from U.S. authorities". Reuters.
32. Fletcher, Laurence. (2021-06-22). "Hedge fund that bet against GameStop shuts down".
33. Burton, Parmar, and Kumar, Katherine, Hema, and Nishant. (July 9, 2021). "Steve Cohen's Bet on Melvin Leaves Point72 Trailing Hedge-Fund Peers".
34. Vedentam, Keerthi. (16 June 2025). "Defense Tech Startup CX2 Nets $31M Series A".
35. Zhen, Summer. (16 January 2025). "Point72's new AI fund near $1.5 bln after double-digit returns, sources say".
36. Kumar, Nishant. (November 6, 2025). "Point72 Gears Up to Raise at Least $1 Billion for Private Credit".
37. (November 3, 2025). "Point72 preps new equity unit as assets soar to $42 billion".
38. "13th FERI Hedge Fund Investor Day".
39. Saacks, Bradley. "Steve Cohen's Point72 is creating a new equities brand to get better access to the C-suite".
40. (2025-11-04). "Point72 launches new equity unit as AUM surges past $40bn - Hedgeweek".
41. Morrell, Alex. "Inside Steve Cohen's Cubist shake-up: How a quiet search and chance timing led to the surprising change at Point72".
42. Morrell, Alex. "Point72 quant head Denis Dancanet is out. WorldQuant's former CIO is taking over Cubist.".
43. Zweben, Leslie Picker, Dawn Giel, Jen. (2018-06-11). "The woman suing Point72 and Steve Cohen speaks out about alleged gender and pay discrimination".
44. Schott, Paul. (2018-10-02). "Point72 gender-discrimination lawsuit moves to arbitration".
45. Schott, Paul. (2019-10-13). "Point72 discrimination case clouded by uncertainty".
46. (2018-02-13). "Wigdor LLP Files Gender Discrimination Lawsuit Against Point72".
47. Chung, Juliet. (2020-09-17). "Steve Cohen's Point72 Settles With Female Employee in Gender Discrimination Arbitration". Wall Street Journal.
48. Goldstein, Matthew. (2020-09-18). "As Steve Cohen Closes In on Mets, Discrimination Claims Cast a Shadow". The New York Times.