Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates Reorganizes With Partnership Model

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio will reorganize the firm as a partnership over the next few months to distribute more power among the hedge fund's top executives.

Why It’s Important

The world’s largest hedge fund found success under Dalio’s unique management philosophy, which prized transparency, encouraged colleagues to challenge peer ideas and required all decisions to be approved by Dalio and his fellow co-chief investment officers.

The new partnership model will spread management control among other senior executives to ensure stability after Dalio transitions out, and it will also allow employee partners owning equity to reap from Bridgewater’s profits without claiming firm ownership, according to Bridgewater.

“This will both broaden the ownership across the firm and help us remain employee-controlled for generations to come,” Bridgewater’s co-chief executives, David McCormick and Eileen Murray, said in a Thursday letter to clients.

What’s Next

Bridgewater will soon institute two partnership classes: a small group of senior seed partners and 50 provisional partners. The members will determine governance details, elect three board members and gain more power through the end of the year.

The firm will remain private, and Dalio will remain co-chief investment officer. As previously announced, he plans to step down from the co-chairman role within the next four years.

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