Thiel’s fund continues its slide in Sept.
PayPal co-founder and Facebook angel investor Peter Thiel appears to be in need of some celestial aid.
His hedge fund, Clarium, suffered its worst month in September in what has already been a pockmarked year for Thiel. Last month, the fund posted losses of 8.1 percent, putting its year-to-date losses at 15.8 percent, according to a performance report obtained by The Post.
Meanwhile, assets under management continued to erode in September, sinking to $1.6 billion from $1.9 billion at the end of June. At its peak in July 2008, Clarium boasted assets of $7.3 billion.
The latest figures represent another distressing chapter for the Silicon Valley wunderkind, known for making winning bets such as the $1.5 billion sale of online payment service PayPal to eBay in 2002 and being an early investor in social-networking dynamo Facebook. Last year, when most hedge funds were down double-digits, Clarium ended 2008 off just 4.5 percent.
This year, however, has been an entirely different story, with the fund losing money month after month while most hedge funds are fast recovering from last year’s financial crisis.
Indeed, the average hedge fund was up close to 14 percent as of the end of August, according to Hedge Fund Research. And most funds are expected to eke out gains in September as well.
But while most hedge funds are able to ride out the tough times by charging small fees based on assets, Clarium only makes money — a 25 percent cut — when investors profit.
A person close to the company said Clarium stockpiled a bunch of money in 2007 after it returned 40.3 percent to investors, giving the firm “several years” of operational funding.
Last year, however, Clarium’s operational costs undoubtedly rose as Thiel moved a good chunk of Clarium’s operations to New York from San Francisco, and bought out several employees who chose not to move.