The last gasp of the swashbuckling Wall Street titans

Getty Images; Alyssa Powell/BI

I can tell you how hedge-fund land used to operate because I was there.

A few times a year in locations around the world — Las Vegas, New York City, Singapore — thousands of money managers and their juniors would gather in an over-air-conditioned ballroom, make polite conversation over stale coffee, and sit through boring lectures about portfolio construction or talent acquisition or some no-name undervalued asset. Then a superstar hedge-fund manager would take the stage, and the vibe would shift.