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Tiger as well. Ainslie recalls what a difficult decision it was to leave Tiger for Maverick. But he felt Maverick was a unique opportunity.

I first met Ainslie in 1994 when I attended Maverick Capital's annual meeting in Dallas. Sam Wyly, one of the founders of Maverick, was a successful entrepreneur. His businesses included a string of diverse public companies—University Computing, Sterling Software, Michaels Stores, and Sterling Commerce. Wyly started his own portfolio in 1990 investing family money, and with his son Evan and Ainslie founded Maverick Capital in August 1993. In October 1993, Maverick began to take outside investors. At that time, they were managing assets of $60 million. The guest of honor at Maverick's 1994 partners meeting, held at the Kimball Art Museum, was former President George Bush. That night Bush shook everyone's hand and had his photo taken with them. That was my first meeting at Maverick Capital.

By February 1995, Ainslie was running the entire portfolio. In January 1997, he bought out the majority interest of the firm. Assets have now burgeoned to $6.0 billion and Ainslie has total control of the fund. Evan Wyly is involved as a managing partner, focusing on the long-term strategic direction of the firm. As I entered their offices at The Crescent in Dallas, expansion was going on. It was their third expansion in three years at this location. Maverick Capital and its affiliates have about 60 people in their Dallas, New York, and Philadelphia offices. We met in Lee's octagonal conference room adjoining his office. Two Chinese porcelain horses greeted visitors at the entrance to the room.

Ainslie runs his hedge fund differently from many other managers. For one, he is hedged in the A. W. Jones sense of the word. While not perfectly hedged, Maverick is much more hedged than the typical hedge fund. Shorting is critical to what Maverick does. Individual securities are shorted; futures and options are not used to hedge. He feels that sophisticated investors can use futures and options on their own to hedge. "We hope to add value by shorting individual stocks that we believe will underperform the market."

INTENSIVE FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH

Maverick takes a fundamental or bottom-up approach, visiting companies, talking to management, and analyzing cash flow. Maverick has