SEC 13F filings, Greenlight Capital quarterly letters, Bloomberg
David Michael Einhorn is the founder and president of Greenlight Capital, a value-oriented hedge fund managing approximately $3.5 billion. Einhorn is one of the most well-known short sellers and activist investors in the industry.
Einhorn graduated from Cornell University and founded Greenlight Capital in 1996 at age 27 with just $900,000 in capital. He rose to prominence with his prescient short of Allied Capital and his famous 2008 presentation questioning Lehman Brothers' accounting — months before the firm's collapse.
The fund generated annualised returns of approximately 26% from inception through 2010, but has struggled in recent years. Greenlight notably lost approximately 34% in 2015 and had several difficult years as value investing fell out of favour. However, the fund has recovered since 2022 with the value renaissance. Einhorn is also a competitive poker player, finishing 18th in the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event.