Ted Burdick is stepping down as chief investment officer for George Soros' $25 billion family office after less than a year in the role.
Mr. Burdick, who had been head of distressed debt and arbitrage groups before his promotion in January, will remain in his current post until a replacement is found and then will return to running a credit portfolio at the firm, according to people familiar with the matter. Soros Fund Management is looking for a CIO candidate with experience in macroeconomic investing, said one of the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
Michael Vachon, a spokesman for Soros, declined to comment.
The move would mark the seventh time Soros appoints a new CIO since the billionaire philanthropist decided to scale back risk following the departures of star traders Stanley Druckenmiller and Nicholas Roditi in April 2000. Mr. Burdick replaced Scott Bessent, who oversaw investments for four years before leaving at the end of last year to start his own hedge fund firm. Since then, Mr. Soros — who turns 86 on Friday — has become more involved in day-to-day trading at his family office, taking a series of bearish bets.
He said in June that Britain's decision to leave the European Union had “unleashed” a crisis in financial markets similar to the global financial meltdown of 2007 and 2008. While equity markets initially sold off after the decision, allowing Mr. Soros to profit, they've since rallied — in some cases to record highs.
While Soros' overall fund is slightly down for the year, the portion that is overseen by internal managers has made marginal gains, according to one of the people.
Mr. Burdick has been associated with Soros for more than 15 years, and sat on the investment committee at the time of his promotion. He started at Soros in April 2000 and left in 2005 to join Camulos Capital, a firm that managed money for Mr. Soros and others. He re-joined the family office in January 2010.
