Layoffs To Hit Westport-Based Hedge Fund Giant Bridgewater Associates

WESTPORT, CT — Hedge fund giant Bridgewater Associates is preparing this month for an undisclosed number of layoffs, Nir Bar Dea, the company's CEO, announced on Wednesday.

In an email to clients and staff, Bar Dea wrote that the company is undergoing a massive makeover to position it for current and future growth.

"To pursue this path, going on offense while also managing constraints (consistent with proactively restricting access to Pure Alpha and investing in these new businesses), requires us to cut costs, free up resources, and restructure," Bar Dea wrote of the Westport-based company. "This means changes to design and people, with material cuts in some areas. We will aim to implement them quickly, within the next week."

Bloomberg reported that Bridgewater will lay off about 100 employees.

This month's layoffs are at least the second round of job cuts since the summer of 2020, when Bridgewater's flagship Pure Alpha fund reportedly suffered a decrease of more than 13 percent in the first half of that year. Dozens of employees were let go in the 2020 layoffs.

In addition to this month's job cuts, the company is continuing to grow its footprint in Asia, with additional expansion in Singapore, increase its artificial intelligence and machine learning initiatives, and bring back Mark Bertolini, a former co-CEO at Bridgewater, as a board director.

"Our reality now is that we are simultaneously in an exciting time given the opportunities ahead, and a painful one as we need to part ways with great teammates who have been on the journey with us," Bar Dea wrote. "While recognizing it will create more questions for some, I am sharing this with you now because that’s how we’ve agreed to be, and I always want you to hear from me first."