What would you do if you had an extra day each week? Hedge fund titan and billionaire New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is betting that people in a certain income bracket will be able to get on the putting green.
Cohen believes a four-day work week is imminent, he told Andrew Ross Sorkin on CNBC on Wednesday. squawk box As a result, he has invested heavily in golf.
Leisure activities (i.e. golf) are the main focus in imagining a free Friday. When people eventually have more time for themselves, Cohen said, “all those things around leisure, travel, experiences, etc. will become strong investment areas.”
During the pandemic, Cohen purchased 95% ownership of the New York Mets for $2.4 billion, the largest sale in Major League Baseball history. Now he is deepening the well. Last September, he acquired the rights to the New York-based team of TGL, a high-tech golf league founded by Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. And in January, Cohen, along with billionaire sports team owners, reportedly invested $3 billion in the PGA Tour.
Even if the rapid adoption of AI hadn't led to what he believes would be the end of the four-day work week in the office, “I would have been investing in golf anyway. Long-term.” “I think that's a good idea,” he says. Cohen said. Still, Mr. Cohen's investment in golf “should fit more into the theme of enjoying leisure time,” Mr. Sorkin said. More leisure means more rounds of golf, he added, “and I think the courses will be busier on Fridays.”
The future of Friday holidays may be closer than you think. Friday is still the busiest day in most offices. Stephen Ross, the billionaire chairman of commercial landlord Vornado, said last year that Fridays were “dead forever” and Mondays could soon follow suit. Some forward-thinking companies have already banned after-hours meetings and deadlines on Thursdays, after which productivity generally drops.
If Cohen helps, it's not Point72. If his fund manager starts taking days off, even on Fridays when the market is open, “that's a problem,” Cohen said. In this respect, Mr. Cohen is like other financial moguls who generally oppose deviating from workplace norms.
But most people outside of Wall Street “I think at some point we're going to have an opportunity to play three games in a weekend,” Cohen predicted. Time to practice your swing.
