As we reported earlier, Harvard expects to lose $11 billion, or 30% of its endowment (just what they
lostis equivalent to what Iceland received in bailout funds). The budget for the entire city of Boston is $2.4 billion.
Although a lot of money was lost, the financial geniuses who run the fund (officially the Harvard Management Corporation) have pocketed a pretty penny.
Here are the annual compensation packages for the top six managers (fiscal years July 1 to June 30th):
(source) (note: alumni outrage at the compensation from this year prompted the imposition of salary caps, although even then, as seen below, the caps are still quite generous.)
(source)
(source)
(source) (note: total payout is lower because of management turnover and outsourcing of some fund oversight.)
(source)
(source)
The total for these six years for the top six money managers (HMC does not report the compensation of the other employees) was $305.1 million.
Interestingly, the top managers of Yale's endowment, which has posted similar outsized returns, earn about one tenth of their counterparts at Harvard.
Even with the drop to a total value of $20-some billion that is expected to be reported in July, the endowment represents a massive amount of capital controlled by a single non-profit, tax-exempt entity that receives hundreds of millions in taxpayer grant money.
--df
