Bill (Sung Kook) Hwang is a Korean-born New York-based investor on Wall Street.[1][2]The Wall Street Journal reported that Hwang lost US$20billion over the course of ten days in late March 2021, imposing large losses on his bankers Nomura and Credit Suisse.[3]
He began his career at the now defunct Peregrine + Hyundai Securities, where he met Julian Robertson as one of his clients. Bill went to work for Robertson's Tiger Management, Robertson closed his hedge fund in 2000, but handed Hwang about $25 million to launch his own fund, Tiger Asia Management, which grew to over $5 billion at its peak.[1] Robertson’s former proteges are known as the Tiger Cubs, and Hwang was considered one of the most successful among them.[6] Tiger Asia suffered heavy losses in the global 2008 financial crisis.[8]
In 2013, Hwang converted Tiger Asia into a family office, Archegos Capital Management,[1] which managed US$10 billion of family money. As a family office, they were less regulated than as a hedge fund.[9]
In March 2021, the losses at Archegos Capital Management triggered the liquidation of positions approaching $30 billion in value, leading to substantial losses to Nomura and Credit Suisse.[9][11]
Before the losses Hwang was believed to be worth $10–15 billion with his investments leveraged 5:1.[6]
