For over forty years, Paul Tudor Jones has been synonymous with Wall Street—he’s the master of macro, the man who predicted the “Black Monday” crash of 1987 while perpetuating the excessive stereotype of the hard-partying hedge fund managers of the decade. His investment management firm, Tudor Investment Corporation, holds upwards of $10 billion in assets under management and has grown into a global venture with offices from Stamford, Connecticut to Sydney, Australia, and Jones remains an active voice in the future of world finance.
However, while he built his career as a soothsayer of the stock market, he simultaneously set forth initiatives to reinvest his and others’ wealth for the good of humanity—from benefacting a middle school class to fighting poverty in the Empire State. Jones is still actively trying to shape the 21st century, whether advocating for the excitement of cryptocurrency or forecasting the next United States rescue, stimulus, and recovery. Still, his alma mater, the University of Virginia, is perhaps the billionaire’s greatest beneficiary.
Before becoming a hedge fund manager (worth nearly $6 billion) and quintessential contrarian investor, Jones pursued a degree in economics in Charlottesville, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976. By the time he had cut his teeth in trading in the New York Cotton Exchange, he had decided to forego graduate studies at Harvard Business School, cementing his association with UVA as he rose to fame and fortune on Wall Street.
Fans of Virginia basketball already recognize Jones as a second-generation Wahoo—his father, John Paul Jones, is the namesake of the Cavaliers’ home court. The younger Jones provided over $20 million to build John Paul Jones Arena in 2006, a tribute to both his father and the school that helped shape his investment career.
Later, in 2012, he and his wife Sonia donated $12 million to establish UVA’s Contemplative Sciences Center, founding the school’s new subdepartment dedicated to mindfulness, meditation, and the bridging of modern and traditional modes of contemplative studies. In 2019, the benefactor committed an additional $40 million toward the construction of a new Contemplative Commons building aimed at further fostering collaboration between the school’s departments.
Using the same spirit of innovation and evolution that has fueled his personal success, Jones has sought to improve education standards from childhood onward, including the Excellence Charter School in Brooklyn, as well as the Bedford-Stuyvesant I Have A Dream Foundation. Through his Robin Hood Foundation, he also leads the fight against poverty in New York, proving that even the stock market’s bad boys can grow into global good guys.