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Joel Greenblatt is an investor and hedge fund owner known for his opaque personal life, charitable investments in public education, and, above all, for coining the “magic formula investing” strategy that has brought him tremendous financial success over the years. His firm, Gotham Capital, is also known for making a fortune off the 2007 housing market crisis.
The fact that so little is known about the man has piqued the curiosity of countless market-watchers and caused many to wonder, “What is Joel Greenblatt’s net worth?” To find an answer, we compiled all of the publicly available information about Mr. Greenblatt’s personal wealth and have provided the closest estimate possible of his true net worth.
 | Joel Greenblatt |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | December 13, 1957 |
| Nationality | American |
| Title | Hedge fund manager, adjunct professor, writer, investor, philanthropist. |
| Companies Founded | Gotham Capital, Gotham Asset Management, Value Investing Club, Formula Investing |
| Best Known For | Association with Dr. Michael Burry's Scion Capital, philanthropic contributions to public education |
| Net Worth (USD) | $500 million |
What Is Joel Greenblatt’s Net Worth?
Our research indicates that Joel Greenblatt’s net worth is approximately U.S. $500 million. This figure is derived from various credible online sources that have calculated the balance of his estimated personal assets against his known liabilities.
Note, however, that this is a rough figure of Joel Greenblatt’s wealth. Since Mr. Greenblatt doesn’t own a publicly-traded company, he isn’t bound by Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations to disclose his personal financial positions. Therefore, there is no way of definitively knowing his precise net worth.
Joel Greenblatt Biography
Joel Greenblatt was born on December 13, 1957, in the Great Neck region of Long Island, New York. However, little is known about Mr. Greenblatt’s upbringing nor his present-day family life.
An alumnus of the Wharton School’s M.B.A. program, Mr. Greenblatt was a successful student who published an original value investing research paper in a peer-reviewed journal while still a graduate student. Like many successful fund managers, Mr. Greenblatt attended law school, albeit only briefly. After one year at Stanford Law School, he dropped out to pursue career opportunities in finance.
After law school, he opened a hedge fund called Gotham Capital with $7 million provided by Michael Milken. In 2000, Mr. Greenblatt invested $1 million in Dr. Michael Burry’s nascent hedge fund, Scion Capital, which represented 25% of the firm’s assets at that time. The investment proved lucrative for Greenblatt, as Scion’s short position in the U.S. housing market made his fund wildly profitable in the late 2000s, at which point Greenblatt would close his position.
As a value investor, Mr. Greenlatt has a proven talent for not only finding undervalued stocks, but also the social potential of charitable initiatives in his hometown of New York City. In this sense, he not only knows how to spot a company that holds the potential to grow, but also grassroots-level community organizations and public service entities.
How Did Joel Greenblatt Build His Wealth?
The majority of Joel Greenblatt’s net worth stems from the success of his investment fund, namely Gotham Asset Management, the successor of Gotham Capital. Gotham was very successful in its early days, generating impressive 34% average annual net returns between 1985 (its first year in operation) and 1994.
Currently, Gotham Asset Management LLC is listed as having 51 clients with roughly $4.1 billion in discretionary assets under management. Based on their most recent 13F filings, the firm has about $2.36 billion in managed securities, and its largest holding is Microsoft Corp.
Mr. Greenblatt’s wealth skyrocketed in the late 2000s at the height of the global financial crisis. Since much of Greenblatt’s wealth was tied up in Dr. Michael Burry’s Scion Capital fund, the success of Burry’s shorting of the U.S. housing market made Greenblatt considerably more wealthy. Both Greenblatt and Burry were portrayed in the 2015 film The Big Short.
Evidently, much of Mr. Greenblatt’s wealth comes from being Managing Principal and Co-Chief Investment Officer of Gotham Asset Management. However, other sources of capital include his real assets such as his primary residence in New York City, his secondary homes, and his salary as an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School.
Lastly, Joel is an accomplished public speaker and author who earns royalties on his book sales and commands high keynote speaking and consultation fees. Although his speaking fees aren’t public knowledge, it’s safe to assume he charges several thousand dollars per appearance. His bibliography includes the following texts, each of which is a passive income source:
- You Can Be a Stock Market Genius: Uncover the Secret Hiding Places of Stock Market Profits (Simon & Schuster, 1997)
- The Little Book That Beats the Market (Wiley & Sons, 2006)
- The Big Secret for the Small Investor: A New Route to Long-Term Investment Success (Crown Publishing Group, 2011)
How Is Joel Greenblatt’s Net Worth Calculated?
Joel Greenblatt’s net worth is calculated the same way any other individual’s wealth is calculated: by taking the value of all their assets and subtracting their total liabilities. Essentially, Mr. Greenblatt’s net worth is the positive balance of his possessions minus what he owes. These figures are derived from the financial statements of his investment fund, Gotham Asset Management.
Who Else Invests Like Joel Greenblatt?
Not all investors have the same style. To compare investors like Joel Greenblatt check out these investor profiles:
Want to Invest Like Joel Greenblatt?
Joel Greenblatt built his wealth by going against the grain. At a time when Benjamin Graham’s rules of fundamental analysis reigned supreme, Mr. Greenblatt defied the dictates of the efficient market hypothesis and instead placed strategic bets on companies he deemed undervalued.
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