Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen
Born	Steven A. Cohen 11 6, 1956
Birthplace	Great Neck, New York, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Hedge fund manager, sports team owner
Known for	Founder of Point72 Asset Management, owner of the New York Mets
Education	University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School)
Spouse(s)	Alexandra Garcia (m. 1992)
Awards	Top-earning hedge fund manager (Bloomberg, 2025)

Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, investor, and sports team owner. He is the founder and chairman of Point72 Asset Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. Cohen is also the owner of the New York Mets, the Major League Baseball franchise he purchased in 2020. Over a career spanning more than four decades in finance, Cohen built a reputation as one of the most prolific traders on Wall Street, first through his founding of SAC Capital Advisors in 1992 and subsequently through Point72, which manages billions of dollars in assets. In February 2026, Bloomberg News reported that Cohen earned a $3.4 billion payday in 2025, placing him at the top of the publication's annual ranking of the highest-earning hedge fund managers, ahead of David Tepper and Israel Englander. Beyond his financial career, Cohen has become a prominent figure in professional sports ownership and is known for his active, hands-on approach to managing the Mets.

Early Life

Steven A. Cohen was born on June 11, 1956, in Great Neck, New York, a suburb on the North Shore of Long Island. He grew up in a middle-class Jewish family. His father worked as a dress manufacturer in Manhattan's Garment District, and his mother was a homemaker. Cohen was one of eight children in the household, and the competitive environment of a large family has often been cited as an influence on his later career in the high-pressure world of trading.

From an early age, Cohen demonstrated an interest in numbers and games of strategy. He became an avid poker player during his youth, and he later credited the game with teaching him important lessons about risk assessment, probability, and reading opponents—skills that would prove central to his approach to financial markets. Growing up on Long Island in the 1960s and 1970s, Cohen was a fan of New York sports teams, including the Mets, a fandom that would eventually culminate in his purchase of the franchise decades later.

Cohen attended John L. Miller Great Neck North High School, where he was known as a bright but not especially studious student. His interests leaned more toward practical applications of mathematics and toward competitive pursuits than toward traditional academics. It was during his high school years that Cohen first became aware of the stock market, reportedly reading the financial pages of newspapers and developing a fascination with the movements of stock prices.

Education

Cohen enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, one of the most prestigious undergraduate business programs in the United States. At Wharton, he studied economics and developed a deeper understanding of financial markets, corporate finance, and quantitative analysis. The curriculum at Wharton emphasized both theoretical foundations and practical applications of business and finance, which aligned well with Cohen's natural inclinations toward trading and market analysis.

While a student at Wharton, Cohen reportedly opened a brokerage account and began trading stocks, gaining hands-on experience in the markets before he had even graduated. He earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1978.

Career

Early Trading Career

After graduating from Wharton in 1978, Cohen took a position in the options arbitrage department at Gruntal & Co., a midsize Wall Street brokerage firm. According to widely reported accounts, Cohen generated $8,000 in profit on his first day of trading. He quickly distinguished himself as an exceptionally skilled short-term trader with an ability to read market movements and act on them with speed and precision.

Over the next several years at Gruntal, Cohen rose through the ranks and was eventually given his own trading group to manage. By the late 1980s, he was reportedly managing a portfolio of approximately $75 million and generating substantial returns for the firm. His success at Gruntal established his reputation as one of Wall Street's most talented equity traders and provided him with the capital, experience, and confidence to strike out on his own.

SAC Capital Advisors

In 1992, Cohen founded SAC Capital Advisors, a hedge fund named after his initials. He launched the firm with approximately $25 million in capital, much of it his own money. Operating initially from offices in Stamford, Connecticut, SAC Capital quickly grew into one of the most profitable and closely watched hedge funds in the world.

SAC Capital's strategy was built around aggressive, short-term equity trading. The fund was known for its intensive research operation, which employed hundreds of analysts and portfolio managers who sought out informational advantages in the market. Cohen cultivated a culture of high performance and high expectations, with traders and analysts under constant pressure to generate ideas that would translate into profitable trades.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, SAC Capital posted extraordinary returns, frequently outperforming broader market indices by wide margins. At its peak, the fund managed more than $15 billion in assets and employed over 1,000 people. Cohen's personal fortune grew commensurately, and he became one of the wealthiest individuals in the United States.

However, SAC Capital also attracted scrutiny from regulators. Beginning in the late 2000s, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a multi-year investigation into insider trading at the firm. Several former SAC employees were charged with and convicted of insider trading offenses. In 2013, SAC Capital Advisors pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to pay $1.8 billion in penalties—one of the largest such settlements in history. While Cohen himself was not criminally charged, the SEC brought a civil administrative action against him, alleging that he failed to adequately supervise employees who engaged in insider trading. As part of a settlement, Cohen agreed to a two-year ban on managing outside investors' money, which took effect in 2016.

Point72 Asset Management

Following the closure of SAC Capital to outside investors, Cohen converted the firm into a family office, which was renamed Point72 Asset Management in 2014. The name was derived from the address of the firm's headquarters at 72 Cummings Point Road in Stamford, Connecticut. For several years, Point72 operated exclusively as a family office, managing Cohen's personal fortune, which was estimated at the time to be in the range of $9 billion to $11 billion.

In 2018, after the expiration of his ban on managing outside capital, Cohen reopened Point72 to external investors. The fund attracted billions of dollars in new capital, reflecting continued confidence in Cohen's investment acumen despite the legal troubles that had beset SAC Capital. Point72 adopted a multi-strategy approach, employing fundamental equity long/short strategies, systematic trading, macro investing, and venture capital through its Point72 Ventures arm.

By the mid-2020s, Point72 had grown into one of the largest and most influential hedge funds in the world, managing tens of billions of dollars in assets. The firm employed hundreds of investment professionals across offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

In February 2026, Bloomberg reported that Cohen earned $3.4 billion personally in 2025, making him the highest-earning hedge fund manager of the year. The ranking placed Cohen ahead of David Tepper of Appaloosa Management and Israel Englander of Millennium Management, two other prominent figures in the hedge fund industry.

Investment Strategy and AI Focus

Cohen and Point72 have been notable for their willingness to invest heavily in technology and data-driven approaches to investing. The firm has made significant investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure and has built out proprietary technology platforms to support its trading operations.

In early 2026, disclosures revealed that Point72 had made a substantial move into major technology stocks, with Cohen deploying approximately $2.8 billion into Big Tech companies. The investment was interpreted by market observers as a signal of Cohen's conviction in the long-term prospects of artificial intelligence infrastructure and the leading technology companies positioned to benefit from the growth of AI.

Reporting indicated that among the major AI-related stocks, Cohen had shown particular interest in companies building out the infrastructure layer of artificial intelligence, including cloud computing platforms and semiconductor suppliers. An analysis of Point72's portfolio moves noted that Cohen had taken positions in leading AI stocks at a time when many investors were reassessing the valuations of AI-related companies amid concerns about the pace and cost of capital spending on data centers and chips.

Ownership of the New York Mets

Cohen had long been known as a lifelong New York Mets fan, and in 2012, he purchased a minority stake in the team. His ambitions to acquire full ownership of the franchise were eventually realized in November 2020, when he completed the purchase of the Mets from the Wilpon family for approximately $2.4 billion—the highest price ever paid for a North American professional sports franchise at the time of the sale.

As owner, Cohen pledged to invest in the team and restore it to competitiveness. He significantly increased the Mets' payroll, making the team one of the highest-spending franchises in Major League Baseball. Under his ownership, the Mets pursued high-profile free agents and made significant investments in player development, analytics, and facilities.

Cohen has adopted an active and at times outspoken approach to ownership. He has been known to engage with fans on social media and to make public statements about the direction of the franchise. In February 2026, during spring training in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Cohen made headlines when he declared that the Mets would never name a team captain as long as he owns the franchise. The statement ended speculation that the team might eventually bestow the title on a current player, as the Mets had not had a captain since David Wright played his final game eight years earlier.

The declaration drew mixed reactions from fans and commentators. Some praised Cohen for emphasizing collective leadership and team-first culture, while others questioned whether the captain designation could serve as a useful motivational tool. Francisco Lindor, the longest-tenured Mets player at the time, publicly expressed respect for Cohen's decision, telling reporters, "Let's focus on winning."

Cohen's ownership of the Mets has also sparked broader discussions about the relationship between wealthy hedge fund owners and professional sports, as well as the financial dynamics of baseball in the era of soaring payrolls and franchise valuations.

Personal Life

Cohen resides in Greenwich, Connecticut, and maintains residences in New York City and other locations. He married his second wife, Alexandra Garcia, in 1992. The couple has several children. Cohen also has children from his first marriage.

Cohen is an avid art collector and has assembled one of the most significant private art collections in the world, with holdings that include works by Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons, Jasper Johns, Willem de Kooning, and other major artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. His art purchases have frequently made headlines, including high-profile acquisitions at auction houses such as Christie's and Sotheby's.

In addition to his art collecting, Cohen has been involved in philanthropic activities. He and his wife Alexandra have donated to educational institutions, medical research, and children's health organizations through the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. Their philanthropic interests have included support for veterans' causes, mental health initiatives, and programs in the New York metropolitan area.

Cohen's lifestyle and spending habits have been the subject of extensive media coverage over the years. His Greenwich estate, which includes expansive grounds and a private ice rink, has been described as one of the most valuable residential properties in the United States.

Recognition

Cohen's position in the financial world has been recognized through numerous rankings and media profiles over the course of his career. He has appeared regularly on lists of the wealthiest Americans, including the Forbes 400 and the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

In February 2026, Bloomberg named Cohen the top-earning hedge fund manager for 2025, with a personal haul of $3.4 billion. The ranking edged out David Tepper and Israel Englander, two other prominent hedge fund leaders, and placed Cohen at the pinnacle of the industry for the year. The Bloomberg ranking, which is based on estimates of managers' personal earnings from their funds' performance and management fees, is one of the most closely followed measures of success in the hedge fund industry.

Cohen's investment moves are closely tracked by financial media and by other investors who view his portfolio decisions as indicators of broader market trends. Disclosures of Point72's holdings through SEC filings regularly generate news coverage and analysis, as was the case with the firm's $2.8 billion allocation to Big Tech stocks in early 2026.

As owner of the New York Mets, Cohen has also received attention in the sports world. His willingness to invest heavily in the team's roster and his public engagement with fans have made him one of the most visible and discussed owners in Major League Baseball. His comments and decisions regarding the franchise are regularly covered by outlets including ESPN, MLB.com, and the New York sports media.

Legacy

Steve Cohen's career represents one of the most consequential trajectories in the modern history of hedge fund management. From his early days as a trader at Gruntal & Co. to the founding and growth of SAC Capital Advisors, and subsequently Point72 Asset Management, Cohen has been at the center of significant developments in the financial industry for more than four decades.

His approach to investing—characterized by intensive research, rapid trading, and a willingness to deploy enormous sums of capital based on conviction—has influenced the strategies of countless other hedge fund managers and institutional investors. The organizational structure of SAC Capital and later Point72, with its emphasis on employing large numbers of analysts and portfolio managers operating in a multi-strategy framework, became a model that many other firms sought to emulate.

At the same time, Cohen's career has been marked by the insider trading scandal at SAC Capital, which resulted in criminal guilty pleas by the firm and civil penalties for Cohen himself. The episode remains one of the most significant enforcement actions in the history of securities regulation and raised important questions about the culture of information-gathering at large hedge funds, the responsibilities of fund managers to supervise their employees, and the boundaries of legitimate research.

Cohen's entry into sports ownership with his purchase of the New York Mets added another dimension to his public profile. His ownership has been characterized by aggressive spending and a stated commitment to building a winning organization, reflecting the same intensity and competitive drive that defined his financial career.

As of 2026, Cohen remains active both as the chairman of Point72 Asset Management and as the owner of the New York Mets. His investment decisions continue to be closely followed by the financial world, and his management of the Mets remains a subject of intense interest among baseball fans and sports media.