While bomb threats to schools and government institutions are a standard feature in this day and age, there was a twist on a familiar theme yesterday afternoon when employees of Bridgewater Associates, the biggest hedge fund in the world, evacuated from the company’s Westport headquarters Wednesday after a ” nonspecific bomb threat,” according to an alert sent out by the company to employees. The evacuation was first reported by the WSJ.
The alert, sent out at about 3:30 p.m., instructed staff to “immediately evacuate the building” and wait for instructions from police or Bridgewater security, the alert said. No bomb was found.
Bridgewater manages about $150 billion for global pension funds and institutional investors. It has about 1,500 employees as of earlier this year, but is undergoing layoffs, according to a letter sent to investors last month.
“We had a routine bomb threat and handled it accordance with our well-established protocols,” a Bridgewater spokeswoman said.
Considering that the trading floor was entirely evacuated and yet there was no impact to the company’s P&L, or the market for that matter – recall that Bridgewater’s “risk parity” strategy is one of the most important, marginal price setters for the entire S&P, one marvels at the level of automation within the world’s biggest hedge fund. Alternatively, now that the genie is out of the bottle, one wonders if other more “hands on” hedge funds won’t suffer the same threats in the coming weeks as disgruntled former or current employees seek to punish their employers in a market in which being present and observing every gyration in this volatile, illiquid market can mean the difference between profit and a career-ending loss.
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