Tax Me If You Can | The New Yorker

A prerogative of being a billionaire is the freedom to go anywhere, anytime. For decades, Julian H. Robertson, Jr., who founded Tiger Capital Management, in 1980, and turned an eight-million-dollar investment into a twenty-three-billion-dollar company, has had a car and driver at his disposal. Robertson returned capital to investors in 2000 but still runs Tiger as a private firm, and he remains the dean of American hedge-fund managers. He was recently named chairman of the private-equity firm Forstmann Little & Company, after the death of his close friend Theodore J. Forstmann. Forbes estimates Robertson’s net worth at $2.4 billion. And, in contrast to disgraced managers like Bernard Madoff or Samuel Israel, Robertson has a reputation for honesty. He “cared about integrity and reputation,” Katherine Burton wrote in her 2007 book, “Hedge Hunters.” “Robertson focused on the ethics of corporate managers, their intelligence, and their integrity, both personal and in regard to their dedication to improving shareholder value.”

During a typical workweek, Robertson’s driver would transport him from his apartment on Central Park South to a ten-acre estate in Locust Valley, New York, to a summer rental in Southampton, to several Long Island golf clubs, and to his Park Avenue headquarters. For travel to his vacation retreat in Sun Valley, Idaho, to his estate in New Zealand, to golf outings in Ireland, and to other far-flung destinations, Robertson used a private plane that landed at and took off from Farmingdale, Long Island; Teterboro, New Jersey; and LaGuardia Airport. He could go where he liked, when he liked, but there was a catch.

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