People

Michael Platt

Michael Platt

Formal First Name
Michael
Link
Dates
12/1968 - present
Location

Michael Platt is the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Director of BlueCrest Capital Management, one of Europe’s largest hedge fund firms. Platt splits BlueCrest’s assets between systematic strategies and discretionary trades. He believes in aggressive stop losses—he will cut traders’ allocations drastically if they lose as little as 3% of their capital, but will also lift allocations to winning trades. According to Sunday Times Rich List, he is Britain's wealthiest hedge fund manager, with an estimated net worth of $8 billion.

Entity Types

Hedge Fund

Mentioned by the Following

Publications

Hedge Fund Market Wizards

Professional Experience


Academic History

  • His grandmother, whom he has described as "a serious equity trader," introduced him to investment. She helped him buy stock in trust savings banks that were selling shares to the public.
  • At 14, he invested £500 in a shipping line, Common Brothers, that soon tripled in price.
  • Some of his first investments were in Britain's newly privatized utilities.
  • In his first live television interview in 2011, Platt said that there are “three things he won't touch—exposure to banks, peripheral debt risk, and illiquid investments.”
  • He is a notable art collector having built a contemporary art collection not by shopping for pictures, but by commissioning them from well-known artists. 
  • He has a private showroom in the crypt of a deconsecrated church at One Marylebone, which displays a selection of art by, among others, taxidermist Polly Morgan.