John Hempton

John Hempton is an Australian fund manager who founded Bronte Capital Management. Operating from Sydney, he runs a long/short equity fund that invests globally. He built his reputation on deep fundamental analysis, a willingness to take contrarian positions, and an unusual commitment to writing publicly about his investment thinking.

Before Bronte, John worked at Platinum Asset Management, one of Australia's most respected investment firms. He's been investing and writing about markets for decades, and his blog has become required reading for serious investors around the world.

He is perhaps best known for his work identifying fraudulent companies — particularly during the wave of Chinese reverse-merger frauds that hit U.S. markets in the early 2010s. His posts would systematically dismantle the financials of companies that turned out to be fabricated, earning Bronte Capital a reputation as one of the best fraud-detection shops in the business.

But his range extends far beyond fraud. He writes with equal authority about European banking, Australian housing, American healthcare, and government-sponsored enterprises. Every post reflects a mind that reads voraciously, thinks independently, and isn't afraid to be wrong in public — which is precisely why he's right so often.

It's worth pausing on the chain of events that one blog set in motion:

All of that traces back to John Hempton sitting down at his desk in Sydney and writing a blog post about Fannie Mae. He probably doesn't know Glen exists. That's fine. The best influences often work that way — one person writes, another person reads, and everything changes.