Two Sigma Co-Founder’s Divorce Threatens to Drag Firm Into Drama

Описание: A rancorous divorce, a feud between billionaires and the future of a trading powerhouse. Today, what is and isn’t divorce-proof is a question hanging over Two Sigma, a $70-billion trading powerhouse with dramas of its own. Bloomberg's Hema Parmar joins to discuss what is going on at Two Sigma, one of the world’s largest hedge funds.

The cryptic note surfaced at the bitter end of a marriage.
It was written by John Overdeck, the billionaire math whiz behind Two Sigma Investments, as he contemplated the future of his fortune.
“Divorce-proof,” it read.
Those words, by Overdeck’s own account, were set down in 2018 in a journal that he kept at his mansion in New Jersey.  His thoughts soon turned to spiriting money to Wyoming, halfway across the country. 
Then his wife discovered the notebook while searching his home office.
Laura Overdeck told her husband in 2022 that their marriage was over. Nearly four years later, the two are still fighting over how to divide a fortune said to be worth roughly $10 billion. The jewel in that crown: Overdeck’s stake in Two Sigma, one of the world’s largest hedge funds.
Today, what is and isn’t divorce-proof is a question hanging over Two Sigma, a $70-billion trading powerhouse with dramas of its own. The year after Laura Overdeck filed for divorce, Two Sigma took an unprecedented step. It disclosed that the relationship between John Overdeck and co-founder David Siegel had turned so toxic that it posed a “material risk” to the firm.
Now, John Overdeck, a genius with numbers, is trying to solve for two very human variables at once. As he and his estranged wife go through a rancorous breakup, he and his alienated business partner are locked in arbitration about the direction of Two Sigma.  
Two Sigma has long prided itself on secrecy. But the Overdecks’ divorce threatens to open a window into its operations and possibly shift the balance of power between its warring co-founders. Each owns about half the firm. If Overdeck were to cede any of his Two Sigma share in a divorce settlement, Siegel might gain an upper hand. 
Over its 25-year history, Two Sigma has minted billions for foundations, endowments and pension funds. And yet internal deadlocks – over management, compensation and more – have been “slowly but inexorably weakening our company,” Overdeck warned in an internal letter to executives last year. That memo, which hasn’t been reported previously, suggested that newer tensions might be building inside the firm, which employs roughly 2,000 people in offices around the world.
This account is based on court filings and Two Sigma memos, as well as interviews with people familiar with the firm, who asked not to be identified discussing internal matters. Police reports and body-camera footage obtained by Bloomberg reveal a personal entanglement involving Overdeck and other scenes that place the trouble at Two Sigma in new context.
Representatives for John and Laura Overdeck declined to comment for this story, as did a spokesperson for David Siegel.
In a statement to Bloomberg, Two Sigma said that its leadership team is “focused on delivering superior performance for our investors and strengthening the company for the future.” It pointed to strong in

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