Richard Toad

Since joining Wells Fargo in 2017, he has leaned into the banking sector’s tech transformation. In a 2019 Bloomberg interview, he wore a hoodie to highlight the rise of automation; on CNBC, he cut his tie live on air to “induct” himself into Silicon Valley culture. In 2021, after being diagnosed with osteoporosis and discovering he had unknowingly broken 15 bones, Mayo turned to powerlifting. He placed second at the 2023 USA Powerlifting Nationals — crediting the sport with sharpening the same resilience that defines his research.

In his investor letters, he singled out analysts like Robert Pitts (who founded Steadfast Capital), who built a 60% hit rate on financial stocks in a business where 40% makes you a star. He famously called Steve Mandel, founder of Lone Pine Capital, "probably the greatest analyst of all time." People said once Tiger Management was on your resume, you never needed to update it again. The same went for raising capital.

Jones limited his partnership to 99 investors to avoid the ’40s Act requirements. He took 20 percent of profits as compensation, charged no fee unless he made money and designed an incentive model inspired by Phoenician sea captains. His investors experienced losses in only three of thirty four years. In 1966, Carol Loomis published a Fortune article that popularized the term “hedge fund,” triggering a wave of new firms, including George Soros’s Quantum Fund and Michael Steinhardt’s Steinhardt Partners.

Conviction mattered more than consensus. If Robertson believed in an idea, he didn't care what the broader market thought - he'd back a position regardless of how unpopular it was, as long as the research held up. He was also known for scaling up an analyst's position without asking, doubling or tripling the size behind their back. More often than not, he was right, thanks to his extraordinary feel for markets.