Whitney Tilson Closes Kase Capital: 'Reporting Sustained Underperformance Was Making Me Miserable'

Hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson, perhaps best known for his short thesis on Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc (NYSE:LL), has decided to call it quits.Tilson's hedge fund, Kase Capital, will be closing shop after offering investors a disappointing return profile, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 50-year old fund manager lost 8 percent since the start of 2017, which is notably short of the nearly 14 percent return for the S&P 500 index.In an e-mail sent to clients obtained by Benzinga, Tilson acknowledged that if he was solely managing his own money, then the poor results "wouldn't bother me quite so much." But this is not the case and offering clients a sustained under performance "was making me miserable."

"I ultimately concluded that I couldn't in good conscience continue to manage your money unless I had a high degree of confidence that I could turn things around within a reasonable time frame," the letter added. "Alas, I don't have that feeling today."

As it stands now, Tilson's "favorite safe stocks," such as Mondelez International Inc (NASDAQ:MDLZ), "don't feel cheap." On top of that, his "favorite cheap stocks," such as Hertz Global Holdings, Inc (NYSE:HTZ), no longer "feel safe."

Finally, Tilson said he will continue working in the investment field, whether through consultancy services, serving on corporate boards, or creating videos and seminars.

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