James S. Chanos: Kynikos Associates

James S. Chanos is a contrarian by nature. Mr. Chanos researches companies, pores over public filings to search for clues of fraud and deceptive accounting, and then decides whether a stock is overvalued and ready to fall. He has a staff of 26 in the firm’s offices in New York and London, searching for other China-related problematic information. Kynikos Associates, based in New York, has about $6 billion under management.

“His record is impressive,” according to Byron R. Wien , vice chairman of Blackstone Advisory Services. “He’s no fly-by-night charlatan. And I’m bullish on China.”

The fact that short-sellers are held in low regard by some on Wall Street, as well as Main Street, has long troubled him.

Short-sellers were blamed for intensifying market sell-offs in 2008, before the practice was temporarily banned. Regulators are currently trying to decide whether to restrict the practice.

James S. Chanos often responds to critics of short-selling by showing the critical role they played in identifying problems at Enron, Boston Market and other “financial disasters” throughout the years.

“They are often the ones wearing the white hats when it comes to looking for and identifying the bad guys,” he said.

<--Back
Forward–>