WHO IS YOUR DADDY AND WHAT DOES HE DO?- A look at Mets owner Steven "Daddy" Cohen

 He has made billions of dollars, lost millions of dollars and has given us a tremendous example of leadership in the business and sports industries. From the founding partner’s desk at the hedge funds SAC Capitol and Point72 Asset Management to filling philanthropical roles with the Robin Hood Foundation, and now as the owner of the New York Metropolitans of Major League Baseball, he is Steven A. Cohen. A self-made American businessman from Great Neck, New York. Here’s a look at how he did it. Born in 1956 to a middle-class nuclear family consisting of his father, a dress maker, his stay at-home mother, and his two older and five younger siblings. After having graduated high school and attending the University of Pennsylvania’s business school he was a rapid success in the banking industry. Upon graduation he found his first job, moving money for the investment bank Gruntal & Co. Cohen quickly rose through the ranks to become a trading group manager and at its peak, his team was generating one hundred thousand dollars daily. In 1992 Steven had already become a multi-millionaire and left Gruntal & Co to open his first hedge fund, SAC Capitol Investors. By 2006 SAC Capitol accounted for two percent of all trading activity. All this success was not without some failure and some trouble with federal regulatory agencies. From 1999 to 2010 eight SAC employees in total were convicted of insider trading charges brought on by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Cohen was eventually forced to shut down SAC Capitol due to the company pleading guilty to its own insider trading charges. The whole situation cost Cohen over one billion dollars and saw him unauthorized to manage the assets of other investors for two years from 2016 to 2018. Following his suspension from asset management Cohen subsequently shut down SAC Capitol and converted his operations to Point72 Asset Management. While Point72 has made plenty of money it is not without its own major losses as well, in 2021 the hedge fund saw a fifteen percent loss on shorting shares of the video game retailer Game Stop in the famous “Gamestonk” event when thousands of amateur day traders invested in the stock causing the short sales to not cover their positions. Reflecting on the highs and lows of Steve Cohen’s career offers some insight into how a person can be successful in the US business and sports industries. I idolize the determination Cohen showed early in his career to make a name for himself in a new industry, a display I will certainly emulate as I am venturing into the sports broadcasting industry. Cohen’s ability to come out of the loss of SAC and to turn that into a second industry leading hedge fund speaks to his resiliency and grit, traits shared amongst many great leaders. There is also something to be said about his ability to delegate, he certainly has not made the money he has by himself. He has surrounded himself with other great bankers and more recently with some of the most innovative minds in baseball that are collectively building a formidable threat in Major League Baseball. Along with his ability to delegate well Cohen has demonstrated a comprehensive ability to think strategically and communicate. Having been heralded for its use of strategic high-risk investments, SAC saw historical wins like the twenty-four-million-dollar profit made in 2007 on the investment in the company Equinix and the forty billion dollar return on an investment into Ardea Bioscience in 2012. Highlighting his ability to effectively communicate is his work with the Robin Hood Foundation and the founding of the Cohen Veterans Network. By making personal investments with his time and money Cohen has brought together top medical professionals to serve all our nations service members through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury research with New York University and provide medical care for post 9/11 veterans through the Cohen Veteran Network. Steve Cohens Strategic thinking, delegation and communication skills are further displayed through the New York Mets by his signing of David Sterns to be the President of Baseball Operations and his participation in the contracts of Juan Soto and Pete Alonso. Steve Cohen’s management of the New York Mets serving as the team’s principal owner since 2020 has been revolutionary. Approaching his ownership responsibilities through a business savvy super fan’s perspective. In 2024 the Mets were the first team to spend more money on payroll than the organization grossed in earnings. Unlike the overwhelming majority of ownership groups (Special attention paid to Nutting and Fischer in Pittsburgh and the homeless Athletics, respectively) throughout the league, Steve Cohen says he is committed to the community, culture and putting a competitive team on the field and his actions in just five years have shown this. From pursuing the hottest free agent of 2025 in Juan Soto and securing him to a fifteen-year contract with record breaking money, the eight billion dollar metro park/ casino project that was just approved by the New York city council on March 12th of this year, to the team installing a purple seat for McDonald’s character Grimace after the he threw a ceremonial first pitch on his birthday (June 12th 2024.) Cohen sees the value in making these competitive and cultural investments. He truly fosters a community that players and fans can love and thrive in. Steve Cohen was once asked if he viewed his purchase of the Mets as a philanthropical adventure rather than a typical business investment. He responded with a vehement “yes,” also referencing his ownership of the team as a “civic responsibility.” Cohen’s passion and leadership should serve as the archetype for all future owners that are approved by the league for expansions and sales (I’m hoping to see a few forced sales, looking at you again Nutting and Fischer) of existing teams.

References; Steve Cohen. (n.d.). Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/profile/steve-cohen The Jewish Vues | Getting to Know Connecticut Billionaire Steve Cohen. (2025). Jewishvues.com. https://jewishvues.com/articles/getting-to-know-connecticut-billionaire-stevecohen/ History. (n.d.). Cohen Veterans Network. https://www.cohenveteransnetwork.org/history/ https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/steve-cohen.asp#toc-how-did-steve-cohen-make-hismoney