Tiger Management CEO Julian Robertson at Duke University Discussing the Right Use of Wealth

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Apr 07, 2012
The meaning of wealth depends on how it is expended, said Julian Robertson, philanthropist and billionaire investor.

Robertson, founder of the Robertson Scholars Program, said that learning to use money to enhance social well-being is much more pivotal than knowing how to make money. He addressed members of Duke Venture Forward and Robertson scholars at an event Monday afternoon sponsored by DVF, an organization that mentors and prepares students for the business world.

“With wealth can come a lot of good, and I’m always trying to make sure that people are using it in the right way,” Robertson said. “That is something you get addicted to, and you want to keep going with it.”

Once commonly known as the “Wizard of Wall Street,” Robertson founded and managed Tiger Management Corp., a hedge fund he started in 1980, which was most successful in the 1980s and 1990s. Since retiring from the hedge fund business, he has worked with a variety of public welfare organizations and university boards. Since he closed the hedge fund—also known as the Tiger Fund—in 2000, Robertson has made substantial profits betting on the fall of credit default swaps on subprime debt, Fortune reported in 2008.

In 2000 Robertson donated $24 million to create the Robertson Scholars Program, a unique merit scholarship offering participants an opportunity to study at both Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“We invited Mr. Robertson to talk because he has an incredible story that members of our organization could learn a lot from,” junior Ina Li, vice president of public relations for DVF, wrote in an email Sunday.

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