David Tepper Quotes
100 David Tepper Quotes
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You have every advantage of being a big fund at $10 billion. Above that, it gets tough to manage.
David Tepper
We’re value-oriented and performance-based like a lot of funds. But I think what differentiates us is that we’re not afraid of the downside of different situations when we’ve done the analysis. Some other people are very afraid of losing money, which keeps them from making money.
David Tepper
When I got to Goldman, I changed the way junk bonds were traded. It was pretty radical, moving the whole market to trades on sectors. It used to be traded by maturities, which helped perpetuate the monopoly held by Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham.
David Tepper
[On the world of emerging markets] You’re basically doing country analysis, which wasn’t really that hard for us to pick up. And then, it’s just like everything else – analysing all kinds of investments. You’re trying to figure out that inflection point.
David Tepper
[From 1995 during the Latin America crisis] As soon as money started coming back in the country, that market too off. So we were able to figure out the right variable, to look at the right thing to focus on. And when it changed, we were fairly early and we were able to make a lot of money.
David Tepper
[On being the first to buy Korean Treasuries in 1997 after he had sent a handful of analysts to Korea to see what was going on.] We discovered the country was an export machine – a real industrial country. They were sacrificing their gold for the good of the country. We were frankly surprised by the level of sacrifice
David Tepper
[On losing 29% and $80 million on Russia when Russia defaulted after a IMF deal (International Monetary Fund)] It was definitely the biggest screw-up of my career.
David Tepper
We had huge emerging market and junk positions that we sold down to avoid disaster, so we were able to act fast. Our biggest mistake was not realizing how illiquid markets could get so quickly. Many firms went out of business at the time, and at one point, I wondered if we would be able to survive. That was kind of an interesting lesson for a lot of people.
David Tepper
[On buying back Russian bonds post-default in 1999 for a 61 percent gain but buying them at five cents on the dollar] It was like minting money. It was almost worth all the hell we had to go through.
David Tepper
[On replaying his losses in his head] It is the only way you learn from your mistakes.
David Tepper
We’re known as people that will fight till the end but I’m not going to fight something just to fight something. I’ll fight if I have to, but I’m actually a lover and not a fighter at heart.
David Tepper
[On pulling out of his investment in Delphi when holding 9.3% of the company after two years of negotiation after it had filed for bankruptcy] It wasn’t worth the time at that point.
David Tepper
Delphi was a big investment commitment that we thought had significant upside potential at the time. But the situation soon became very aggravating. We thought we did everything right.
David Tepper
[On Washington Mutual after it had filed for bankruptcy in September 2008] We had been following WaMu [Washington Mutual] very closely. We knew there was still about $4 billion in cash from TPG sitting at the holding company – and it wasn’t going down to the bank. We also knew there would be a potential tax refund. We knew we would be rewarded if we’d just be patient.
David Tepper
After the bankruptcy filing, we became the largest creditor of WaMu – we understood the capital structure and the details of the corporate structure, so we knew there were assets for a recovery… It was a really long and incredibly painful bankruptcy process.
David Tepper
[On missing out on some of the shorting opportunities in the subprime market] It wasn’t that we didn’t have the trade on ourselves. But that we didn’t have the extra time it took to figure out the best way to play it. If we weren’t torn away with some of the Delphi crap, we definitely could have hit the subprime trade better.
David Tepper
We were very liquid when September 2008 hit. It was a financial sector event. We had been sitting there waiting for it to tell you the truth.
David Tepper
Some of our best positions were ones we initially lost money on.
David Tepper
We don’t want to be bigger than we can invest.
David Tepper
[On the size of a fund] The question is what size gets you – except more fees for the manager. But it doesn’t necessarily make the investor more money.
David Tepper
Fixed income funds should naturally be a little bit larger than, say, equity funds. You want to be big enough that you can see everything and small enough that you don’t kill yourself with size. So I think different sizes are right for different types of funds.
David Tepper
Say you want to buy 5 percent of a $2 billion company, and have it be meaningful. That means it’s a 1 percent position in a $10 billion fund. So if you’re an equity fund, if you keep getting bigger and get to $20 billion, that means your position is now only a half percent position. The 1 percent position doesn’t do much for the fund and so the half percent position does half as much. So there’s an aspect to the business, in equity funds especially, that gets funky on size.
David Tepper
I have too much money to quit. I mean, somebody has to manage my money. I’ll also put some money out to other managers so it will be a sensible balance.
David Tepper
[On only managing his own money] That may happen at some point, but not in the near future. I love what I do and it’s good to have the discipline of outside investors.
David Tepper
It’s a complicated world out there.
David Tepper
Sometimes it’s time to make money, sometimes it’s time not to lose money. Last year was a time not to lose money; we’ll see what this year brings.
David Tepper
I knew you couldn’t screw around. The problem was, you had had this idea that with the IMF, there was some safety net underneath the market. But if Russia could default, why couldn’t Brazil default, and why couldn’t…
David Tepper
[In 2010] My long term record is actually pretty consistent.
David Tepper
[On how much leverage he uses in his Appaloosa Funds] None. Why do you need leverage for?… We didn’t have leverage in 2009, we don’t have leverage this year.
David Tepper
It was easy, the government told you what they’re going to do.
David Tepper
You can’t put things in writing and say you’re going to buy at a price and not do it. That is securities law fraud.
David Tepper
We generally like something better than nothing.
David Tepper
[In September 2010] I don’t own gold, but I can understand why you might. Because it’s a question of how much it will go up versus how much it will go down.
David Tepper
[In September 2010] Is the economy going to get better by itself or not? And frankly I don’t know.
David Tepper
[In 2010] If the fed does quantitative easing for the next five years that’s not good…
David Tepper
We’re not Japan.
David Tepper
I love being married by the way... I love it.
David Tepper
[In September 2010] Either the economies going to start getting better. Or it’s not and the fed’s going to come in and then it’s going to get better or at least you’re going to get richer in some fashion.
David Tepper
Sometimes there’s no other animals around when we do things.
David Tepper
I don’t give a sh*tsu.
David Tepper
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