Lasry Out of the Running for Ambassador to France

The billionaire hedge fund manager Marc Lasry will not be moving to the ambassador’s mansion in France.

Mr. Lasry, the chief executive and chairman of Avenue Capital, told his investors in a letter on Tuesday that he would remain at the hedge fund, ending speculation that President Obama was considering him for the role of French ambassador. The investor had been a prominent supporter of Mr. Obama during the presidential campaign.

“I am very grateful to have been considered,” Mr. Lasry said in the letter, which was obtained by DealBook. “I would like to put the speculation to rest and let you know that I will be remaining at Avenue.”

There had been questions about who might run the firm if the chief executive were to step down. Mr. Lasry is considered a “key man” in documents for a number of Avenue’s funds, according to a person briefed on the matter.

In addition, Mr. Lasry is personally invested in all of Avenue’s funds, this person said. The firm manages $11.5 billion as of the end of March; of that, about $3.7 billion is invested in Europe.

It’s not clear whether Mr. Lasry might have had to divest certain holdings in government service.

“Avenue is well positioned to continue to protect and grow investors’ assets, and I look forward to continuing to invest alongside all of you,” Mr. Lasry said in the letter.

The firm had reorganized its management amid speculation that the ambassadorship might be in Mr. Lasry’s future. In March, Sonia Gardner, the president of Avenue, who founded the firm with Mr. Lasry, her brother, told investors that Richard P. Furst would be the new chief investment officer.

The decision to promote Mr. Furst, who led Avenue’s European strategy, reflected “the increasingly global nature of the financial markets,” Ms. Gardner said in a letter at the time.

Speculation surrounding Mr. Lasry reached a pitch when Politico published a report suggesting that Bill Clinton had revealed that the hedge fund manager had been offered the ambassador job. The former president, whose daughter once worked at Avenue, had asked Mr. Obama to consider Mr. Lasry for the role, according to the report.