Hip NYC hedge fund billionaires not THAT generous to staff in London

Forty five year-old John Overdeck and 54 year-old John Siegel are billionaires. Forbes reported this week that the two men each have an estimated net worth of $2.8bn. That's pretty impressive, but if you work for them in London, you might not be affording a ten bedroom house in zone one anytime soon.

Overdeck and Siegel are co-CEOs of Two Sigma, the systematic trading hedge fund which refers (ironically) to employees as dudes, throws fiestas and has its own recording studio. We wrote about life at Two Sigma only the other day. Now the fund has released another set of annual results for its operation in the UK. They show that it pays well, but not THAT well all things considered.

In the year ending 31 December 2014, the highest paid member of staff at Two Sigma in the UK earned £600k ($911k). The average member of staff earned £275k ($417k). That's a lot of money, but it's not the sort of money Forbes says is on offer at Two Sigma in the US, where Forbes says 20-something 'math nerds' are on $550k from the outset.

Why doesn't Two Sigma pay as abundantly in London as in NYC? It might be because it's not that profitable in the City. In 2014 the company made a mere £173k profit on revenues of £4m. Compared to investment banks, however, a disproportionate amount of Two Sigma's London revenues are devoted to keeping staff happy - 62% of turnover went to compensation last year, compared to a mere 36.8% at Goldman Sachs. 

As long as revenues keep rising in London, Two Sigma's staff may have weightier paydays to come. In the meantime, if you think you might want to work at Two Sigma. you can take their quiz here. There you will be questioned about your favourite music, preferred 'TV show marathon', ideal TED Talk and ideated company perk.

Photo credit: Luca Rossato