They’ve changed the sign. They’ve changed the email address. And presumably they will soon be giving out new fleece jackets at Point72 Asset Management, the new family office that will trade billions of dollars of Steven A. Cohen’s money and is the legal successor to his once-mighty SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund.
The retirement of the SAC name happened quietly over the weekend, and it does not appear that Mr. Cohen is planning any big celebration at his firm’s headquarters in Stamford, Conn., to celebrate the occasion. The firm’s old website is no longer accessible, and a new site has yet to go online.
But in the weeks since deciding on a new name, which is a reference to the 72 Cummings Point Road address of the firm’s headquarters, Mr. Cohen’s firm has been busy buying domain names for websites that incorporate “Point72.†Most notably, the firm acquired the domain name for a former quantitative trading shop called Point72 Technologies that was based in Los Angeles.
It’s not clear whether Mr. Cohen intends to use that firm’s domain name for its own website, but the firm needed to acquire it because it is using “Point72.com†for its email addresses.
A Point72 spokesman declined to discuss the firm’s new website or what happened to the firm’s former sign.
To be sure, even when it was a hedge fund, the SAC website did not reveal much to the general public. The site was restricted and required a login. The only publicly available website SAC had was one it used for recruiting, Â to advertise job openings.
The low-key changing of the guard to Point72 from SAC is no doubt a reflection of the fact that this is a pivotal week for the billionaire investor, as a federal judge will decide whether to accept or reject SAC’s guilty plea to insider trading charges.
The hearing on Thursday before Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the United States District Court in Manhattan may  move Mr. Cohen one step closer to putting the federal government’s nearly decade-long investigation of his firm into the rear-view mirror. Federal authorities continue to investigate allegations of insider trading by SAC employees into several stocks beyond the 20 publicly identified by prosecutors, but there is a growing sense that Mr. Cohen himself will escape criminal prosecution.
Mr. Cohen, regarded by many as one of the premier stock traders of his generation, is certainly hoping to open a new chapter in his life with Point72.  The firm will be forbidden from managing money for outside investors under SAC’s plea deal with prosecutors.The hedge fund firm will also pay a $1.2 billion penalty if the deal is approved by the judge. Indeed,  Mr. Cohen is working hard to keep his firm from getting much smaller than its 850 employees by pressing the majority of his firm’s 90 portfolio managers to sign two-year contracts.
But whether Point72 will be able to replicate the kind of trading success that SAC generated over its 22-year history will depend a lot on whether the investigation of Mr. Cohen and his firm has really come to an end. Another significant arrest of a top trader who once worked for SAC could make it impossible for the Wall Street banks that continue to lend money to Point72 to continue those relationships.
A loss of leverage would undoubtedly spell the doom of Point72, which counts on using borrowed money to add firepower to its trading and bolster its ability to generate returns. A recent regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicates that the former SAC had about $12 billion in assets, but when combined with leverage its total market exposure was $41.5 billion. So borrowed money, just as it was with SAC, will continue to be a lifeline to success for Point72.
So for now, there probably won’t be  much popping of Champagne bottles at Point72. It may be months before it is clear whether Mr. Cohen, who owns a minority stake in the New York Mets baseball team, can show  the trading world that the magic is back.
Â
