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The Shape of Bridgewater

A wide-ranging conversation with Rob Copeland, the author of a provocative new book about Ray Dalio and his hedge fund.

Copeland portrays Dalio as a cruel-hearted megalomaniac who delighted in reducing his partners—to say nothing of many others who work at Bridgewater—into insecure, quivering piles of jello.
Copeland portrays Dalio as a cruel-hearted megalomaniac who delighted in reducing his partners—to say nothing of many others who work at Bridgewater—into insecure, quivering piles of jello. Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
William D. Cohan
November 8, 2023

Back in March 2015, Jonathan Karp, the C.E.O. of Simon & Schuster, the behemoth book publisher that is now owned by KKR, asked me to consider “collaborating” with Ray Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, on a nascent book project about “finance and economics.” In his original correspondence, Karp noted to me that Dalio had written much of the book already, but it still needed to be “simplified” and then “augmented” with interviews with Dalio. Would I consider doing it? It was to be a six-month assignment, paying $200,000.