Learning from Michael van Biema: Value Investor, Manager Selector, Trusted Advisor
Lessons for Investors and Emerging Managers
It is my pleasure to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the valuable lessons learned from Michael van Biema, founder of van Biema Value Partners. After more than two decades of investing in emerging value managers worldwide, Michael recently announced the closing of his firm.
Michael has been a wonderful mentor to the MOI Global community and to so many fellow value investors over the years. It feels fitting to share some of his timeless wisdom into the art of value investing as well as the business of running an investment firm. I am also delighted that the team Michael has nurtured over the years will carry forth his legacy. In particular, with Michael’s blessing and support, Jeffrey Hamm is embracing the next generation of value investing with his new firm, YorkTech. I am proud to call Jeffrey a close friend and to serve on his advisory board.
Over several decades, Michael van Biema has worn many hats: Columbia Business School professor, author, fund manager, and advisor. In his farewell letter, Michael recently reflected on working with pensions and family offices and expressed pride in contributing to their success. Though closing this chapter must have been a difficult decision amid changing investor preferences, Michael’s enthusiasm for the future remains undimmed. Ever the teacher and innovator, he looks ahead to a “new chapter that reflects the evolving needs of investors”, one that synthesizes his foundational value investing principles with cutting-edge technology at Jeffrey Hamm’s new firm.
From revitalizing Columbia’s Value Investing Program and co-authoring influential texts, to backing undiscovered talent across the globe, Michael’s journey offers a wealth of insights. In this article, drawing on Michael’s interviews with MOI Global in 2010, 2013, and 2017, as well as his recent farewell letter, I present lessons from his investment philosophy, approach to portfolio construction, advice on building an investment firm, and his vision of value investing’s future.
Academic Foundations
Michael’s path in investing began in academia. After earning a B.A. from Princeton and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Columbia, he joined the finance faculty of Columbia Business School in 1992. For the next 12-13 years, he taught courses ranging from corporate finance and securities analysis to entrepreneurial finance – but his true passion lay in value investing. He developed a deep value investing philosophy and nurtured a “great network of up-and-coming and established money managers” among his students.
Sensing the need to formalize Columbia’s efforts in this discipline, Michael contributed to the founding of the school’s Value Investing Center (now the Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing). This initiative, which helped revitalize Columbia’s historic focus on Graham-and-Dodd principles, included recruiting talent like Professor Bruce Greenwald to expand and modernize the value investing curriculum. Michael’s role in persuading Columbia to bring Bruce Greenwald on board – a move that the New York Times later said made Greenwald “a guru to Wall Street’s gurus” – was pivotal in reinvigorating the program and ensuring a new generation of MBAs could learn the art of value investing.
During his Columbia tenure, Michael not only taught hundreds of students, but also co-authored an influential book that bridged the gap between Benjamin Graham’s era and today’s investment giants. Together with Bruce Greenwald and others, he published Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond, a modern classic that distilled the fundamentals of Graham and Dodd and showed how investors like Warren Buffett adapted those principles. This book became a cornerstone in many value investing courses and introduced countless readers to concepts of intrinsic value and margin of safety in a practical, accessible way. The impact of Michael’s teaching was evident in his students: “Many of my students remain in regular contact with me and have gone on to great success – with some becoming among our most successful managers,” Michael wrote in his farewell letter, reflecting the pride of a mentor who helped launch stellar careers. By the early 2000s, having influenced the academic realm and guided future investors, Michael was ready to practice what he preached on a bigger stage.
Investing in Investors
In 2004, Michael took a leap from academia, founding van Biema Value Partners in the living room of his Upper West Side apartment. He was driven by a unique vision: to create a vehicle that would invest in other value investors. During a 2010 interview with MOI Global, Michael explained that the genesis of his firm was in part inspired by Buffett’s essay, “The Superinvestors of Graham-and-Doddsville.” Buffett had observed that the greatest value investors of his generation shared a few traits: they achieved outstanding long-term returns and endured significant drawdowns, and notably, their performance did not correlate strongly with each other. This insight sparked an idea: Could one construct a portfolio of today’s best value investors, particularly smaller, nimble managers, to capture superior returns with reduced correlation and risk? Michael recalls, “a thought occurred to me that there were a number of small value shops out there… and that it would be interesting to see if what Buffett had observed… held true for the current small value managers of today.”
Leveraging the network he had built, Michael approached several legendary investors to back this experiment. He gathered a brain trust of value investing luminaries who believed in his vision. These included Mario Gabelli, Chuck Royce, Jean-Marie Eveillard, Peter Guy, Alan Kahn, Charles Brandes, V-Nee Yeh, the late Peter Cundill, and others who not only offered wisdom but also seeded the fund with their own capital – an experiment of sorts. The first fund launched in 2004, focused on U.S. managers, and proved the concept successful. As Michael and team demonstrated that a collection of skilled, small value managers could deliver strong results, they expanded globally, introducing an international fund in 2008 and later an Asia fund.
Michael’s thesis was that smaller managers have advantages: they can be more flexible, invest in under-the-radar opportunities (including across the capital structure), and are often willing to stay small to maintain high-conviction portfolios. “We had a list of managers among whom many had already closed their funds… a good sign because it meant that [they] were disciplined, controlled and closed their funds with relatively modest sizes,” Michael noted. In fact, when he first canvassed his advisory board for worthy managers, he quickly received over one hundred names of talented boutique investors. This abundance of quality candidates dispelled any concern about a lack of skilled small managers. Michael and his team ultimately hand-picked about 20 managers to launch the initial portfolio.
Michael’s experiment proved Buffett’s conjecture correct. “We discovered the exact same thing Buffett mentioned: the managers’ performance didn’t correlate strongly.” By holding a diversified collection of concentrated value funds, the portfolio of van Biema Value Partners aimed to capture most of the upside of equity markets while buffering the downside. As Michael described, “this strategy takes small, highly concentrated managers, and puts them together in a portfolio where you get, to a certain extent, the best of all worlds – a group of highly focused managers without… the risk and volatility that comes with investing in a [single] highly concentrated manager”. He hypothesized that the fund-of-funds could capture about 75% of up markets but less than 25% of down markets, thanks to the underlying managers’ value discipline and lack of correlation.
The turbulent 2008 crash put this idea to the test. The firm’s underlying funds initially dropped with the market, but then “leveled out long before the market leveled out… If you’re buying stuff that’s already cheap, there’s a certain point where it becomes absurdly cheap… and that’s exactly what happened.” This resilience through the global financial crisis gave credence to Michael’s approach and solidified his firm’s reputation.
From its humble beginnings in Michael’s living room, van Biema Value Partners grew into a respected investment adviser managing multimanager portfolios for some of the world’s largest institutional investors. Michael never forgot the early support Chuck Royce provided – “I will always remain especially grateful to Chuck Royce for having generously allowed me to eventually move under his roof on 6th Avenue and build up the company from there,” he wrote. Over two decades, van Biema Value Partners scoured the globe for unsung investing talent. This “fund of value funds” set Michael apart in an often maligned fund-of-funds industry, thanks to his long-term, contrarian philosophy and strong track record.
Mentor to the Value Community
Beyond his direct investment activities, Michael has profoundly impacted the MOI and the broader value communities. At Columbia, he was instrumental in reviving an academic tradition that traces back to Ben Graham himself. He helped establish the Heilbrunn Center and the Value Investing Program’s modern incarnation. Michael’s academic influence lives on through his former students in the leadership of firms and funds around the world.
Michael also contributed to the literature of value investing, co-authoring two influential books. The first, Value Investing: From Graham to Buffett and Beyond (2001), co-written with Bruce Greenwald, Judd Kahn and Paul Sonkin, became a de facto textbook for value investing courses and a playbook for investors seeking to apply classic Graham-and-Dodd techniques in a modern context. It lays out the core tenets of value investing, from balance sheet bargain hunting to earnings power and franchise value, illustrating how legends like Buffett evolved the approach.
The second book, Concentrated Investing: Strategies of the World’s Greatest Concentrated Value Investors (2016), co-authored with Allen Benello and Tobias Carlisle, delves into the art of focused portfolios. It profiles eight renowned investors who achieved exceptional long-term records by eschewing diversification and instead betting on their highest-conviction ideas. Through Concentrated Investing, Michael and his co-authors shared insights and anecdotes from these masters, ranging from John Maynard Keynes’s evolution into a value investor to Charlie Munger’s views on focus. Munger once quipped a person should hold “no more than three positions at any given time” in his personal portfolio. These books extended Michael’s teaching to a global audience.
Perhaps Michael’s most distinctive contribution has been his role as a mentor of emerging managers. Through van Biema Value Partners, he created an ecosystem where up-and-coming investors could receive not only capital but also guidance and validation from some of the world’s best. Michael assembled a world-renowned board of advisors, providing a rare value proposition to any manager looking for not just capital but a true partnership with veteran investors. A fledgling fund manager backed by van Biema Value Partners might find himself networking with and learning from legends like Chuck Royce or Jean-Marie Eveillard.
Michael’s inclination to mentor also extended to his active participation the MOI Global community and our Latticework summits. He has generously shared his time and knowledge through interviews, talks, and articles. “It’s a great service for value investors and young managers to learn from the more experienced players in our industry,” Michael generously said of MOI.
Sharing His Wisdom
In interviews with MOI Global, Michael offered a window into his approach. In 2010, we visited his New York office for a conversation with him and his colleagues. A key takeaway was Michael’s emphasis on quality over quantity in manager selection. When asked about sourcing managers, he stated, “We find these people through our network… a strong network across the globe” was crucial to discovering investors who often operated under the radar. Many of these investors were value practitioners not by pedigree (“not because they went to Columbia”) but by “organically” arriving at value principles through experience. Michael stressed that great value managers can come from anywhere, and that a wide search is vital. He also highlighted the importance of discipline and self-imposed limits: managers who shut their doors to new capital upon reaching a manageable size earned his respect.
In 2013, Michael was a keynote speaker at MOI’s Deep Value Investing Summit. He began by tackling the question, “How do you define value investing?” – a query he often received from prospective investors. “For us at least, value investing isn’t a singular style. It’s a reasonably broad spectrum of styles.” Michael described the endpoints of this spectrum as Graham on one end and Buffett on the other. Graham-style “deep value” was exemplified by net-nets and purely balance-sheet bargains – “buying a dollar of cash for fifty cents”, as in the days of Graham and Dodd. The other end, “the Buffett end of the spectrum,” involved buying great growth companies without paying for the growth – a more quality-focused approach where the margin of safety comes from purchasing a strong franchise at a price that assumes zero future growth. Crucially, Michael emphasized that margin of safety is the common denominator across all value styles: “The one defining characteristic among all value investors… is where and how do I get my margin of safety?”. It could come from tangible assets on the balance sheet or from conservative growth assumptions, but it must be present.
Michael celebrated the variety of value investing, with smaller focus areas including special situations (spinoffs, turnarounds), activist investing, and franchise/quality compounding. “The important thing I’ve learned over time is the more you read about different value managers’ styles, the more you get a sense for what will work for you,” he advised. Michael paid tribute to the late great Peter Cundill, whose mantra, as captured in his memoir There’s Always Something to Do, was to seek out only the most blatantly obvious bargains. Michael noted that early in his career Cundill “only invested in companies or situations where the value basically was beating you over the head”, and that this bias for simple, “hidden in plain sight” opportunities was a trait many of the old-school value masters shared. By contrast, “one problem with some of the younger value managers today is the tendency to overthink things… to seek out complex situations so that one can demonstrate one’s intelligence.” His message to emerging investors was clear: never forget that simple, obvious bargains are often the most elegant and rewarding.
In 2017, we spoke with Michael about his book, Concentrated Investing. He shared practical lessons on building and managing a portfolio, distilled from studying some of the world’s most successful concentrated investors. One memorable theme was the virtue of humility in investing. “If you don’t start out humble, over time the market makes you humble. You learn humility the hard way. It is better to come in with a good dose of humility than to have to lose a lot of money to generate the humility.”
The conversation also highlighted what Michael looks for when selecting managers. Above all, passion and dedication set great investors apart. He recounted an anecdote about his friend and advisor Chuck Royce: “I see him leaving his office on Friday afternoon, and he is always carrying two big tote bags full of annual reports, industry journals, 10-Ks, 10-Qs… He goes home on the weekend, and his way of relaxing is to have a good glass of wine, sit down, and read these materials.” While most people spend weekends on hobbies or family time, legendary investors like Royce genuinely love pouring over financial reports. Michael explained: “We look for managers who are completely passionate about investing and would rather be studying balance sheets than doing pretty much anything else during their waking hours. That is a very important criterion.”
In an ultra-competitive field crowded with smart people, relentless passion and a willingness to outwork others can be a key differentiator. Along with passion comes patience – many of the “great value investors… will tell you [that] what they do is lock themselves in a small room all day and wait until they find a really good idea. In the meantime, they don’t do any trading and they leave a good percentage of their portfolios in cash.” This counterintuitive notion that inaction and restraint are often the hallmarks of superior investors was a powerful lesson from our 2017 interview with Michael.
Another story from Concentrated Investing involved famed investor Glenn Greenberg. Michael relayed how Glenn once had over 40% of his fund’s assets in a single sector (cable TV companies) and sought out Buffett’s opinion on the bet. Buffett bluntly cut him off, saying it was a “complete waste of time” because those companies would never generate cash flow, prompting Greenberg to rethink his thesis. This anecdote carries a lesson about seeking truth over validation: even confident investors benefit from a brutally honest second opinion, and one must be willing to change course when the facts indicate a mistake. The interview reinforced timeless principles: concentrate in what you know best, be willing to learn from failures, and continuously hone your approach by studying the greats.
Value Philosophies on a Spectrum
At the heart of Michael’s success is a broad-minded yet principled philosophy. He rejects the notion that value investing is a monolithic strategy; instead, he views it as a “rich and diverse spectrum of strategies, each providing a distinct source of potential returns.” In his van Biema Value Partners farewell letter, he recounts how he “greatly enjoyed studying the entire ecosystem” of value approaches and learning from every manager he partnered with.
Michael describes four archetypes of value investors:
Classic value investors. These are the heirs of Ben Graham, looking for hidden asset values and what Michael calls “wounded ducks.” They thrive on balance sheet analysis, seeking companies at a deep discount to tangible book value or net current assets. Deep value investors find situations where pessimism (or neglect) has driven prices far below liquidation value or a conservative appraisal of the business. Michael’s early research and teachings were steeped in this tradition (think net-nets and “cigar butts”).
Special situation investors. These managers focus on normalized earnings and unique corporate events. They delve into spinoffs, restructurings, post-bankruptcy equities, or any situation where superficial earnings or conditions mask a company’s true earning potential. The “special situations” crowd, a term popularized by Graham student Phil Fisher and later Joel Greenblatt, aren’t as fixated on current assets in the way classic Grahamites are; instead, they look at what the business can earn under more typical or optimized conditions. Michael admired these investors for their ability to envision a company not as it is today, but as it could be under different circumstances (e.g., after a one-time charge, under new management, etc.).
Activists. These value investors take a hands-on approach, seeking to “unlock a company’s true replacement value” by actively pushing for changes. Michael observed that activists often target companies where management or structural inefficiencies are preventing realization of value – whether it’s bloated cost structures, under-utilized assets, or strategic misdirection. By agitating for asset sales, buybacks, governance changes, or launching proxy fights, activists attempt to catalyze the appreciation of value that more passive investors hope will happen on its own. While activism is a very different skillset from traditional Grahamian analysis, Michael saw it as part of the broader value family because the core premise is the same: a significant gap between price and intrinsic value. The activist simply has a more direct method of closing that gap.
Quality first. At the far end of the spectrum from the classic asset players are those who invest in franchise businesses and long-term compounders – what Michael calls “visionaries who looked beyond the numbers seeking to identify franchise value… the long-term compounders others may have missed.” These are the investors following in the footsteps of Buffett’s later career (and Munger’s influence), where the focus is on exceptional businesses with durable competitive advantages, purchased at reasonable (not dirt-cheap) prices. Michael’s inclusion of this category in his vision of value investing is telling – he did not subscribe to a purist view that excludes growth investing. In fact, he argued that Buffett is “really a growth investor in the sense that he buys growth companies… however, he is a value investor in that he doesn’t pay for the future growth.”
Michael’s great insight was that all these approaches are valid and in fact complementary. He resisted dogma; instead of asking “which type of value investing is best,” he essentially answered, “why not learn from them all?” This open-mindedness allowed him to identify talent in many places, whether it was a net-net hunter in Korea, a merger arbitrageur in New York, or a quality-focused stock picker in Europe. It also informed how he structured portfolios: by mixing deep value with special situations, activism, and compounders, Michael’s firm captured a broader opportunity set and was less likely to have all managers making the same bet.
For aspiring investors, Michael’s philosophy teaches versatility. There is no single formula for success; one can specialize in any of the above areas (or straddle a couple) and still adhere to the core principle of buying below intrinsic worth. The key is to know oneself – to find the style that suits one’s temperament and strengths. Michael often advises young managers to read widely about different investors to discover “what makes sense for you”, as that alignment is crucial. Once you find your niche on the value spectrum, own it and refine it, but never lose respect for the other approaches.
The Art of Portfolio Construction
One of Michael’s notable contributions is in elucidating how to construct portfolios and manage risk in a value-centric way. Michael has argued that concentration, done intelligently, can enhance returns without a commensurate increase in risk. This perspective runs somewhat against conventional finance theory, which preaches broad diversification, but Michael aligns with the wisdom of Buffett, Munger, and even Keynes in advocating a focused approach.
Michael often cites Keynes as an unsung hero of value investing and a pioneer in concentration. In the 2017 interview with MOI, he recounts how Keynes blew up two funds when he tried to trade based on macro forecasts, then discovered value investing independently of Ben Graham and turned his performance around managing the Cambridge endowment. One of Keynes’s key conclusions was that “you are better off concentrating on a few positions because it is immodest to think you can understand a large number of positions at any given time. You are much better off finding a handful of positions you understand really well.” This quote encapsulates the rationale for concentration: our analytical bandwidth and circle of competence are limited, so we should deploy capital only into our very best ideas.
Buffett and Munger echo this sentiment. In Concentrated Investing, Michael highlights quotes from Buffett such as the quip that if you’re a very smart person, “sell half of your IQ” because hyper-intelligence won’t help beyond a point in investing – success comes from temperament and focus, not just brainpower. He also notes Munger’s extreme stance that an individual investor should ideally hold no more than three stocks at a time. Michael’s view, as practiced at his firm, was that holding around 10-20 managers – each of whom themselves might hold 10 or fewer stocks – actually gave plenty of diversification at the aggregate level, but still harnessed the benefits of each manager’s concentration. In a sense, the firm’s portfolio was “diversified concentration”: each manager ran a focused book, but by combining numerous managers across geographies and styles, Michael achieved a balance.
Another practical insight Michael has shared is the difference between analysis and investing. In the 2017 conversation (see above), he noted that some “smart, high-quality analysts… didn’t necessarily generate great long-term returns.” The best stock pickers are not just those who can dissect a 10-K, but those who can assemble and manage a portfolio and maintain discipline. It’s a reminder that one can have deep knowledge of a company yet still falter if psychological and strategic aspects aren’t mastered. Michael’s selection criteria for managers went well beyond IQ or modeling ability; he cared about temperament, discipline, and process. He wanted to see that a manager knew how to cut losers or hold winners, how to hold cash when ideas were scarce, and how to stick to a circle of competence.
Discipline in portfolio management is a recurring theme in Michael’s advice. “This is a profession that really demands an enormous amount of discipline,” he stressed in 2013. Value investing sounds simple – “buy low, sell high” – yet few have the fortitude to consistently do it. The difference between an average investor and a great like Seth Klarman often boils down to emotional discipline: “Most people don’t have the ability to abstract themselves emotionally [from the market’s ups and downs]… or avoid the behavioral biases” that lead to bad decisions. Michael listed examples: resisting the urge to “fall in love with your positions,” not buying more just because a stock is ticking up near your target price, and so on. The long-term success of a value investor “is completely determined by having that level of discipline.” One practice he suggested: “Every value investor should take a few hours a week to sit in a small quiet room and think about his own performance, his own biases and his own level of discipline.”
Michael’s own portfolio decisions reflected such discipline. His firm was willing to return capital or close funds when opportunities waned, rather than chasing subpar investments just to remain fully invested. He also avoided pitfalls like diworsification or style drift. Even when exploring new areas like Asia or emerging markets, Michael approached it methodically, ensuring they found the right local partners and understood the nuances. In one interview he pointed out that emerging markets offer huge opportunities but also require caution due to illiquid markets and governance issues.
Wisdom for Emerging Managers
Michael has accumulated a trove of wisdom for those looking to start and run investment firms. His advice emphasizes quality over scale, aligning with the right partners, and staying true to a long-term value ethos. Here is some of his key advice:
Build on passion and curiosity. The anecdote of fund managers who “rush home to read 10-Ks” rather than relax might sound extreme, but the underlying point is, you must love the process of investing. If research and analysis feel like a chore, you will be outmatched by someone who finds it exhilarating. Michael’s own career pivot – from coding to investing – was driven by fascination with markets, and even after decades, he remained an avid learner. As Michael pragmatically put it, “any position you’re looking at… there are at least five or ten really smart people looking at the same position.”
Stay small and focused (don’t force growth). One of the clearest lessons from Michael’s journey is the virtue of staying small, especially in the early years. Many of the managers he respected resisted the siren song of asset growth. For an emerging manager, it’s tempting to chase AUM increases, but Michael’s career shows the power of discipline here. By staying small, you remain nimble: you can invest in off-the-beaten-path opportunities, adjust positions without moving the market, and most importantly, you can deliver the kind of outsized returns that attracted your early backers in the first place. For a young fund manager, having the confidence to say “no” to hot money or to soft-close at a certain AUM is a mark of integrity that can set you apart. It cultivates an image of exclusivity and discipline – which, paradoxically, can increase long-term demand from the right kind of investors.
Attract the right capital partners. The composition of your investor base can determine your fate as much as your stock picks. Michael was intentional about whose money he took. By first proving his concept with his board members’ capital, he set a tone: this was patient, informed capital that understood the strategy and its risks. Michael’s example teaches emerging managers to choose investors, not just let investors choose you. Early on, taking capital from anyone who will give it might seem necessary, but over the long run, having an aligned group of investors is invaluable. Ideally, your backers share your long-term mindset and are educated about your strategy’s ebb and flow. Michael engaged with his investors through letters and conversations, bringing them along on the journey and even, at the end, guiding them to a new home for their capital, Jeffrey Hamm’s YorkTech.
Cultivate mentors and advisors. When Michael started his firm, he assembled a stellar board of advisors, not as window dressing, but as true partners he could bounce ideas off and learn from. Emerging managers should similarly seek out a network of seasoned investors to advise them. This could mean forming an advisory board, or simply finding a few mentors willing to share wisdom periodically. I am proud that many MOI members have reported over the years that participating in the community has led to countless rewarding relationships.
Stick to your circle of competence. Michael built a firm around what he knew: value investing and evaluating value investors. He did not stray into, say, backing venture capital funds or growth equity managers just because those were popular; that was not his area of expertise or comfort. An emerging manager should define clearly what you are best at and what your edge is. If you’re great at deep dive research in domestic small caps, don’t let the allure of a tech boom tempt you into big tech stocks you don’t truly understand. It’s fine to expand your circle of competence, but don’t abandon your core competency to chase trends. Consistency builds credibility.
Focus on process over outcomes. Short-term results can be fickle: value strategies can underperform during frothy markets or when a particular region slumps. But if your process is solid, over time results should follow. Michael counseled investors to routinely reflect on and refine their process (hence his recommendation to spend quiet time each week reviewing one’s decisions and biases). For an emerging fund manager, this means establishing investment checklists, documentation, and post-mortems from the get-go. Process also extends to how you run the business: managing operations, compliance, investor relations; all are vital to long-term survival. One reason many small funds fail isn’t bad stock picks, but operational missteps or poor client communication.
Patience and long-term thinking. Michael taught for 13 years before even launching his firm, ensuring he had both the knowledge and network to succeed. When the firm launched, he and his board were content to “experiment” quietly with their own money before rushing to gather outside assets. In portfolio matters, he has always advocated waiting for the right pitch. “Most people perceive activity as accomplishment… [but] many of the great value investors… lock themselves in a room and wait until they find a really good idea.” Likewise, building a franchise takes time – you don’t need to have $1 billion AUM in three years to be considered a success. Far better to compound steadily and have the right clients and results after a decade than to flame out. Michael often played the long game, whether in waiting for value theses to play out or in sustaining his firm through lean periods for value investing, such as the late 2010s growth-stock frenzy.
A Farewell Letter and a New Chapter
Last week Michael penned a farewell letter to investors, announcing the closure of van Biema Value Partners. Michael candidly explained the decision: despite his continued belief in the value approach, the demand for multi-manager products had waned in recent years, creating headwinds that were hard to overcome. The investment landscape has shifted – many institutional investors moved away from fund-of-funds structures, opting either for direct investments or lower-cost passive allocations.
In his letter, Michael thanked his team, including Doug, Sam, Eve, Dennis. Notably, Michael singled out team member Jeffrey Hamm, founder of YorkTech, for his “entrepreneurial spirit and knowledge of the industry.” Michael announced that he is “thrilled to accept [Jeff’s] invitation to join [YorkTech’s] Board of Advisors.” In doing so, he symbolically passes the baton to the next generation.
As Michael describes it, YorkTech represents “the next evolution of value investing – a sophisticated fusion of fundamental deep research, quantitative methodologies, and artificial intelligence.” In essence, Jeffrey’s new firm aims to blend the traditional, bottom-up value analysis that Michael championed with the latest technological tools in AI and data science. According to Michael, “Long before I lived in the world of capital, I lived in the world of code… I came to the world of investing from a background in computer science, with a dissertation in the 1980’s on artificial intelligence.”
After more than two decades in investing, he now sees a chance to combine those two worlds: to bring AI into value investing in a way that amplifies human judgment rather than replaces it. He notes that YorkTech’s approach will “maintain the rigorous analysis that has always been our foundation while leveraging technology to uncover opportunities others might miss.” Echoing Michael’s sentiments, I am also delighted to have the honor of serving on Jeffrey’s advisory board.
Further reading:
Farewell letter (2025)
MOI Global interview (2017)
MOI Global interview (2013)
MOI Global interview (2010)
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So sad to read that Michael closed his firm. But he's still a legend!