Now Mr. Bar Dea and Mr. Bertolini will test their own odds in a shared top spot.
Mr. Bar Dea joined Bridgewater’s research department after earning his M.B.A. from the Wharton School. Before that, he served in the Israeli Defense Forces from 2000 to 2007.
He shot up the ranks at the firm, directing its response to Covid. He was an instrumental part of the decision to have employees work outside in heated tents on the firm’s Connecticut campus when it was closed.
“The goal is pretty noble and simple,” Mr. Bar Dea said of Bridgewater’s approach at a conference last year. “We’re macro investors, which means that ultimately, at the end of the day, our goal is to seek an understanding of how the world works.”
Both men are unproven as investment-firm chief executives, but they might not have to focus on that aspect of the job anyway. Although Bridgewater recently announced that an internal operating board will adopt additional responsibilities, its three-person chief investment officer team, which includes the 72-year-old Mr. Dalio, remains in place — suggesting that Bridgewater’s leadership views the investing aspects of its business as an area to be left largely alone.
Performance, however, has been spotty of late. Last year, as the broad stock market rose 27 percent, Pure Alpha, the company’s main fund, returned just 8.17 percent through Dec. 29, and its annualized return over the last decade is just 1.6 percent, according to a person familiar with the figures. All Weather, another prominent Bridgewater fund, has fared better, generating nearly 11 percent gains in 2021 and an annualized return of more than 10 percent over the last decade, this person added.
Mr. McCormick focused more on the “macro” picture during his tenure, according to a business associate, overseeing client relationships and addressing broad organizational questions. If he does opt to run for the open Senate seat from his home state of Pennsylvania, Mr. McCormick will be a rare Bridgewater alumnus to do so. Unlike other financial firms, such as Goldman Sachs and the Carlyle Group, whose executives have gone on to become elected government officials, Bridgewater has not typically been a springboard for politicians.
Dozens of Bridgewater employees have donated to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., including co-chief investment officer Greg Jensen, who gave $1 million to a political action committee that supported his presidential campaign.