corporation industry investment management founded january 1998 headquarters greenwich connecticut united states area served worldwide key people cliff asness ph.d. founding & managing principal david kabiller cfa founding principal john liew ph.d. founding principal aum 159.2 billion as of june 30 2016 1 number of employees 693 1 website www.aqr.com aqr capital management applied quantitative research is a global investment management firm based in greenwich connecticut united states . the firm which was founded in 1998 by cliff asness david kabiller john liew and robert krail offers a variety of quantitatively driven alternative and traditional investment vehicles to both institutional clients and financial advisors . as of june 30 2016 the firm has 159.2 billion in assets under management . 1 contents 1 investment philosophy and strategies 2 history 3 ties to academia 4 aqr insight award 5 references 6 external links investment philosophy and strategies edit aqr employs a research based systematic and consistent approach to portfolio construction . 2 this disciplined approach of identifying long term repeatable sources of return means having a high conviction in the process but not a high conviction in any particular stock . 2 the firm is a strong proponent of diversification within portfolios as well as adding strategies with low correlation to traditional asset classes as a complement to existing portfolios . 3 aqr is a leader in investor and advisor education often sharing insight into its strategies through research white papers and events . aqr was an early adopter of style or factor investing given the strategy s academic roots . although the four styles value momentum defensive and carry have been well known and used in quantitative investing for decades they ve gained popularity in recent years under the mantle of smart beta . aqr has long advocated for using these styles together citing their diversifying qualities . aqr reiterated its strong belief in the strategy but objection to the name smart beta in the 2014 article smart beta not new not beta still awesome . 4 aqr is perhaps best known for its alternative investment strategies which aim to offer low correlation to traditional equity dominated portfolios . aqr was one of the first investment managers to offer a risk parity strategy which aims to balance allocations based on underlying risk rather than asset classes . the firm also offers managed futures a trend following strategy that is uncorrelated with other asset classes and supported by over a century of academic evidence . 2 aqr was one of the first managers to offer alternative mutual funds launching its family of mutual funds in 2009 . 5 the firm s liquid alternative strategies were a category leader in morningstar s ranking for 2015 . 6 history edit three of aqr s founding principals cliff asness robert krail and john liew met in the university of chicago s phd program where the foundation of the firm s investment philosophy took shape . 7 while still working on his dissertation which focused on momentum and value asness joined goldman sachs where he was asked to lead a new quantitative research team within the firm s asset management division . 8 liew and krail joined him and the new team applied what they learned in academia to manage both hedge fund and long only assets . 7 in 1998 asness david kabiller krail and liew left goldman sachs to establish aqr . 8 aqr was among the first hedge fund managers to voluntarily register at its inception with the securities and exchange commission . the firm s first product was a hedge fund though it soon 2000 entered into traditional portfolio management . in 2009 aqr became one of the first investment managers to offer alternative mutual funds . 7 the firm is primarily owned by its founders and principals . ties to academia edit as of 2016 approximately half of the aqr s employees have earned advanced degrees with 52 holding phds . 9 the firm is known to maintain strong positive ties to leading universities and supports financial research through annual academic awards . aqr s insight award see below for winners which recognizes the most significant and innovative academic research that offers practical applications for investors awarded its fifth annual slate of winners in 2016 . 10 in 2014 aqr partnered with the london business school to establish the aqr asset management institute which focuses on asset management research and thought leadership . the institute rewards scholars in the field with annual grants and prizes . 11 the firm is also a sponsor of the aqr top finance graduate award at copenhagen business school which honors the phd graduates whose research carries the greatest potential impact . 12 aqr insight award edit aqr awards a 100 000 annual prize the aqr insight award to encourage and acknowledge academics whose research promises to be of significant use to institutional investors . 2012 winners bryan kelly and seth pruitt 13 2013 winners martin lettau michael weber and matteo maggiori 14 2014 winners eric budish peter cramton and john j. shim 15 2015 co winners robert ready nikolai roussanov and colin ward christopher l. culp yoshio nozawa and pietro veronesi 16 2016 co winners samuel m. hartzmark and kelly shue darrell duffie and haoxiang zhu references edit a b c aqr at a glance . retrieved 2016 08 04 . a b c bary andrew february 27 2016 how aqr s liquid alternative funds are outperforming competitors barron s . retrieved 2016 06 03 . dailyalts staff october 18 2014 video cliff asness says market volatility is a good reason to diversify daily alts . retrieved 2016 06 03 . dailyalts september 23 2014 smart beta misnamed still awesome according to aqr daily alts . retrieved 2016 06 03 . stein charles january 14 2016 cliff asness s alternative funds top rivals with 17 % returns bloomberg lp . retrieved 2016 06 03 . morningstar january 7 2016 the year in alternative funds morningstar.com . retrieved 2016 06 03 . a b c who we are our history . retrieved 2016 06 03 . a b lindsey richard & schachter barry 2007 how i became a quant john wiley & sons inc. . retrieved 2016 06 03 . who we are academic engagement aqr . retrieved 2016 06 03 . burr barry may 13 2016 aqr honors 2 groups of academics for annual insight award pensions & investments . retrieved 2016 06 03 . aqr asset management institute london business school . retrieved 2016 06 03 . aqr top finance graduate award at cbs copenhagen business school . retrieved 2016 06 03 . new research wins first annual aqr insight award . reuters . retrieved 2013 11 25 . market return research wins 2013 aqr insight award . retrieved 2013 11 25 . business wire . retrieved 2015 06 08 . business wire . retrieved 2015 06 08 . external links edit official website official website china v t e hedge funds investment strategy arbitrage relative value capital structure arbitrage convertible arbitrage equity market neutral fixed income 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