The principal owner of the Boston Red Sox, John Henry, is throwing in the towel when it comes to managing money.
His hedge fund firm, John W. Henry & Co., announced yesterday that it will “cease managing client assets” by year end.
“JWH will continue to engage in proprietary trading and research,” the firm said on its website.
The Boca Raton, Fla., firm, allowed Henry to back an investment group that purchased the MLB team for $700 million in 2002.
Henry, the son of farmers, launched JWH in 1981 and managed some $2.5 billion at its peak in 2006.
As of July, the firm was managing just $118 million following investor withdrawals and slumping performance over the last few years.
The firm’s flagship fund, JWH GlobalAnalytics has suffered three down years out of the last four, according to performance data obtained by The Post.
This year, the fund, which invests in agricultural, currency and energy contracts, is down 21 percent.
Henry is chairman of the board and also a member of the firm’s investment policy committee, but other execs handle the firm’s day-to-day operations, including Matthew Driscoll, the firm’s chief investment officer.
In 2002, Henry and a group of investors, including The New York Times Co., founded a sports investment company, called Fenway Sports Group. That year, GlobalAnalytics returned a whopping 26.3 percent.
Fenway Sports now owns 100 percent of the Boston Red Sox; 80 percent of New England Sports Network, a regional sports television network; and Liverpool FC, a professional English soccer team.
Forbes pegged Henry’s wealth at $1.1 billion this year even as his firm, JWH, was estimated to be worth considerably less at $5 million.
Officials from JWH didn’t return a request for comment.
kwhitehouse@nypost.com
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