One company, two warring factions

Via Matt Levine, this unfortunate story of a hedge fund that has a schism: 

Over the last 22 years, John Overdeck and David Siegel built Two Sigma Investments into a $60 billion quant-trading behemoth. But behind the scenes, the billionaire co-founders have clashed over the firm’s direction, succession planning and more, people familiar with the matter said.  

The relationship has deteriorated to the point where Two Sigma felt the need to disclose the friction in a March 31 securities filing. In a little-noticed section on “material risks” related to its investments strategies, the firm warned that Two Sigma’s management committee—which includes only Overdeck and Siegel—is having difficulty making key decisions, a disclosure that lawyers, investors and others say is virtually unprecedented in the investment world. …

The executives, who have offices about 30 feet from each other, split their duties. Overdeck has managed the investment researchers, or modelers, usually favoring a hands-off approach. Siegel oversees the firm’s engineers while appearing at industry conferences, often to speak about the future of artificial intelligence, which he studied decades ago at MIT. Each executive has groups of loyalists within the firm.

“It’s two tribes,” said a person close to the firm. …

In recent years, Overdeck and Siegel have rarely appeared together at firm events. They frequently snipe at each other in meetings, attendees said. Decisions get delayed and projects killed because employees assume they won’t be able to get both founders to agree, the people said. 

One person familiar with Overdeck and Siegel described their relationship as evolving over the years “from irritation to Cold War to hot war.”

I don't think I've ever worked in an environment where two senior managers have been in a state of cold war (or hot war, for that matter.) I can't imagine it's very fun, although I am sure that there have been Hot or Cold Wars in my graduate school department or earlier in my industrial career. 

Here's hoping that you're not in the middle of a Work Cold War (or a hot one.)