The brains behind the iPod's marketing is going to.. help run the world's largest hedge fund?
The world's largest hedge fund is looking to think different about its future with the help of a key former Apple exec.
Jon Rubinstein, a former hardware engineering executive at Apple who helped oversee the development of the iPod before as the CEO of Palm, has been named co-CEO at Bridgewater Associates, a hedge fund that manages assets in excess of $150 billion, according to multiple reports.
The appointment comes at a pivotal moment for Bridgewater. The firm has been tinkering with its unusual management structure, which includes multiple co-CEOs and co-CIOs, while dealing with a contentious succession plan to eventually replace its influential and colorful founder Ray Dalio.
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It may also test the limits of a prominent Silicon Valley figure -- though a Wall Street outsider --with a mixed track record in technology. While Rubinstein is often associated with the success of Apple's iPod, he is also known for failing to turn Palm's handheld devices into a consumer success.
In a memo to clients, Bridgewater cited its future technology investments as a key factor in Rubinstein's hiring.
"Technology is pervasively important at Bridgewater, especially since one of our major strategic initiatives in the coming years is to continue building out the systemized decision-making that has been so successful in our investment area and to extend it to our management as well," the firm wrote in the memo, obtained by Business Insider.
"Jon's track-record of building world class products will be a tremendous boost to the efforts we already have underway."
Bridgewater's principles
Dalio founded Bridgewater in 1975 and built it (and his personal net worth) into a colossus, thanks to his relentless focus on broader economic trends, which has enabled him to prescient about events like the housing market collapse of 2008.
He also made a reputation as something of a philosopher on organizational behavior, with a strict set of management rules for Bridgewater.
“Almost everything is like a machine," Dalio said in one interview with The New Yorker. "Nature is a machine. The family is a machine. The life cycle is like a machine... So how does the machine work that you have a financial crisis? How does deleveraging work—what is the nature of that machine? And what is human nature, and how do you raise a community of people to run a business?”
To build a successful firm, the billionaire founder and eccentric manager developed a set of more than 200 principles for employees to internalize and follow, including "be radically transparent," open to disagreements and willing to "put yourself in the position of pain."
That emphasis on honesty and openness appeared to backfire earlier this year, however, when Dalio and his co-CEO and heir apparent Greg Jensen got into a public showdown over succession planning.
Jensen is now being replaced by Rubinstein as co-CEO, but will remain at Bridgewater as co-chief investment officer.
"We have concluded that in order to have pervasive excellent management, we need CEOs who can give their full attention to the company's management, and we want Greg to shift his full attentions to investment responsibilities," the firm said in its note on the changes. "Also, because technology is so important to us, we wanted one of our co-CEOs to be very strong in that area."
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Topics Apple
Seth Fiegerman was a Senior Business Reporter at Mashable, where he covered startups, marketing and the latest consumer tech trends. He joined Mashable in August 2012 and is based in New York.Before joining Mashable, Seth covered all things Apple as a reporter at Silicon Alley Insider, the tech section of Business Insider. He has also worked as a staff writer at TheStreet.com and as an editor at Playboy Magazine. His work has appeared in Newsweek, NPR, Kiplinger, Portfolio and The Huffington Post.Seth received his Bachelor of Arts from New York University, where he majored in journalism and philosophy.In his spare time, Seth enjoys bike riding around Brooklyn and writing really bad folk songs.
