Picture this: Hedge Fund Manager X dresses up in his spiffiest suit, endures the ministrations of production assistants and makeup artists and stands before Bloomberg Television cameras to talk about his recent performance and pontificate on his favorite on markets and industries. A few minutes later, a news article contextualizing his remarks flashes across terminal screens, and a few minutes after that, the same news story hits the web, where the rabid lust for any tidbit with said money manager’s name attached gives birth to dozens of blog posts and hundreds of tweets. Maybe the market moves, maybe it doesn’t, maybe the thesis will prove correct.

Forget about those consequences for a moment. Instead picture Hedge Fund Manager Y, sitting at a souped-up trading desk, registering his rival’s publicity hit in some darkened recess of his reptile brain: Isn’t my track record longer than Manager X? he asks himself. Aren’t my ideas better, my assets under management more robust, not to mention I have spiffier suits and a stronger jaw. And then he picks up the phone and calls his publicist, who calls Bloomberg.

Believe us, it’s coming: Once-reclusive hedge fund managers are going to start going on the record with the press. Read More