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In public, Ray Dalio has all the markings of an icon. He built his hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, into the largest in the world; he signed The Giving Pledge; he wrote a book about his principles (title: Principles) that sold millions of copies.
New York Times reporter Rob Copeland is here to shatter the illusion. On Tuesday, Copeland published a new biography, The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend, which draws on interviews with hundreds of people in Dalio’s orbit.
Copeland paints Dalio as an egomaniacal cult-of-personality leader with a penchant for cruelty. Under Dalio’s reign, he writes, sexual harassment was allegedly swept under the rug, employees were capriciously fired, and paranoia infected the workplace. Lots of people cried.