Cohen fund gives Mets big ‘hedge’
Steve Cohen, the Mets’ deep-pocketed owner, has brought key employees from his $24 billion hedge fund to moonlight in the MLB team’s front office — and their number-crunching strategies are paying off, according to a report.
Some of Cohen’s top executives from Point72 Asset Management, including chief technology officer Mark Brubaker and head of tax Steve Canna, are likewise listed as executives at the Mets, according to The Wall Street Journal. The team also employs Point72’s head of human resources, data solutions and data engineering in the same roles, it reports.
Point72 has loaned other employees to fill in for spot duty whenever specific projects arise with the Mets, the paper reported.
Cohen has been paying his moonlighting employees extra out of his own pocket in hopes of revamping the Mets’ data and analytics operations, the report said.
A source told the Journal that since Cohen bought the team two years ago for $2.4 billion from the Wilpon family, the number of people working in data and analytics has grown from eight full-time workers to 35 — several of whom are from Point72.
The Mets are also relying more on analytics-driven information to help with player development and other aspects of running the baseball team, the Journal reported.
“They have been an exemplar for us of what constitutes best-in-class, which is Steve’s aspiration for the Mets,” said Mets President Sandy Alderson.
The strategy appears to be working so far as the Mets sit in first place in the National League East.
Investors have raised concerns that Cohen’s Mets duties are distracting him and his top executives from their regular day jobs.
But Cohen’s chief-ofstaff, Michael Sullivan, said the boss keeps working seven days a week and “hasn’t missed a day of trading” since buying the Amazin’s.