Primer of NY-based activist hedge funds

The public investors who love the publicity

In this article, you will learn about the 31 activist hedge funds in New York City.

Things to note

• I try to focus on the pure-play activist funds that run enough campaigns. Plenty of event-driven hedge funds dabble in activism, I will cover them in the event-driven primer instead.

• By nature, activist funds tend to run concentrated portfolios — it's about as close to a private equity-style approach as you’ll find in public markets. So I will not point out that feature for each fund.

• Most activist funds aren’t doing activism year-round. The rest of the time, they operate like any other long/short event-driven or value-oriented fund (think: Third Point).

• This list will be updated when there are notable fund closures or new launches. Updated as of 6/2/2025

• I try my best to only include independent U.S. institutional investment firms, which means excluding:

  • Bank-owned asset management firms, like GS Asset Management (GSAM)

  • Profiles of PMs working at a multi-manager platform (unless they have founded their own firm)

  • U.S. subsidiary of non-American firms (such as Vontebel)

  • Wealth managers, financial advisors, financial planners, etc.

• All firms described are more than $100 million AUM.

• AUM figures are regulatory figures as of 2/28/25 (unless specified otherwise), which include leverage if it’s a hedge fund

Let’s dive in.