Columbia University, New York, reported Wednesday that its endowment returned -0.9% net of fees for the fiscal year ended June 30.
The endowment had $9 billion in assets as of June 30, down 6% from a year earlier. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015, the endowment returned 7.6%.
“For us, the key point is that over the past dozen years, our steady investment performance has helped Columbia compete academically with other great universities that have far larger endowments, and ensure that the university has been well positioned to withstand economic downturns over this turbulent period,” said Lee Bollinger, the university president, said in a news release.
Robert Hornsby, a university spokesman, wrote in an e-mail that Peter Holland, president and CEO of the Columbia Investment Management Co., “will not be available to give additional comment.”
On Monday, Mr. Holland became president and CEO of the Columbia IMC, which oversees investment strategy for the endowment.
Mr. Holland, who has been the endowment’s CIO, replaced Nirmal P. Narvekar, who was named president and CEO of Harvard Management Co., which manages the $35.7 billion endowment of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
According to the Columbia University news release, the endowment’s trailing five-year and 10-year annualized returns, net of fees, are 7.4% and 8.1%, respectively.