A hedge fund is a company that pools the money of wealthy investors. One of the most profitable hedge funds over the past three decades has been Highland Capital Management. The company got its start in 1993 and has grown very steadily ever since then. The two most important people involved in the creation of the company are James Dondero and Mark Okada. The financial world was shocked to learn recently that Okada will be saying goodbye to the company he founded at the end of this year. He has been preparing for this move for over a year. He has been helping to make sure the right people will be handling his responsibilities when he finally departs.
There is no question that Okada is both the heart and soul of the company. He has become famous during the past 26 years. This is because he has done many TV interviews with all of the major financial cable channels. He has been the person they call to discuss all of the major topics in the financial world. However, Okada has decided that it is time for him to step away. He will still be an advisor. However, he will not be working for the company every day as he had done before. James Dondero has wished him well. He said that it will be hard getting used to not seeing Okada's smiling face walking through the halls of the company. It is certainly the end of an era for the hedge fund that oversees the investing of $15 billion in assets.
It will be very interesting to see how the company handles the departure of one of its founders. Will their investing strategy change at all? Okada has said on many occasions that it is a miracle that Highland Capital Management has been able to become the juggernaut that it is today. This is because of the many hardships that the company had to struggle through before it was established. He has said on many occasions that having the right people working in the right positions saved the company from going bankrupt. He will miss working for the company. However, he has reached the stage of his life when he does not want to be sitting in a board room all day.
Many people have been wondering about what will happen to Okada's sizeable stake in the company when he retires. He put all of the rumors to rest when he officially announced that he will be holding onto his ownership stake in the company until further notice. He has no desire to cash out at this time. He feels that the value of his share of the company is only going to go up in value. Therefore, he is going to hold onto it. He has made plenty of money in his career. He can simply live off the profits that his ownership stake generates on a monthly basis.
Okada says that the financial world is much different than it was 26 years ago when he and James Dondero were first trying to get Highland Capital Management off the ground. He says that there is much more competition. He also says that the global markets are much more volatile than they were back then. He believes there are many reasons for this. He does not envy the people that will be making the investment decisions for his company in the future. There are many very risky industries that he thinks should be avoided. However, it will be out of his hands at the end of the year. He has not set a specific retirement date.
