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Bridge Under Water, Still Standing Strong

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August 6, 2025
Bridge Under Water, Still Standing Strong

Bridgewater Associates has long been synonymous with Ray Dalio, the titan who turned a small consultancy into the world’s largest hedge fund.

Now, with Dalio’s full exit as owner and board member complete in mid‑2025, the firm has fully transitioned to a new generation of leaders, and it’s evolving fast.

Under CEO Nir Bar Dea, Bridgewater has embarked on a sweeping overhaul. It capped its flagship Pure Alpha fund to improve performance, moved into new macro strategies, and launched an equity-hedged fund called Defensive Alpha aimed at producing returns even when broader markets fall.

Despite shedding assets, from a peak of $168 billion in 2019 to about $92 billion at the end of 2024, Bridgewater is showing signs of tactical rebound. Its flagship Pure Alpha fund gained 17% in the first half of 2025, comfortably outpacing the S&P 500’s ~6% rise. All Weather, its lower-volatility strategy, added another 8% YTD.

Bridgewater is rebalancing its portfolio mix, too. In Q1 2025, the firm boosted stakes in Alibaba (BABA), Baidu (BIDU), and gold via SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), while trimming weight in US tech giants like Nvidia, Alphabet, and the SPY ETF. That signals a clear shift toward China exposure and safe-haven assets.

Meanwhile, Bridgewater is expanding its reach via strategic portfolio diversification: adding stocks like Broadcom, Netflix, Tesla, and increasing exposure to emerging markets and healthcare giants like Eli Lilly, along with ETFs like IEMG.

Alongside investment evolution, the firm is streamlining operations, cutting around 100 jobs from its roughly 1,300-person staff to boost efficiency and channel resources into AI, sustainability, and Asia expansion initiatives.

Even as Dalio bows out entirely from governance, his influence lingers. He remains a Bridgewater client and mentor, and he continues to promote allocative philosophies, like holding roughly 15% in gold or Bitcoin to hedge against fiat collapse.

Investment philosophy hasn’t strayed from Dalio’s original “radical transparency” model and risk-balanced, globally macro framework. But the culture is adapting; his infamous “dot collector” feedback system remains iconic, even as Bridgewater seeks a less polarizing, more modern ethos.

So, where does Bridgewater stand today? The narrative is clear: while Ray Dalio built Bridgewater with bold macro strategies and a unique culture, Bar Dea and his team are steering it toward AI integration, geographic diversification, and new fund products. With strong performance in 2025 and structural shifts underway, Bridgewater is positioning itself for relevance in a world where pure scale is no longer enough.

In short, Bridgewater Associates may have lost its founder’s name from ownership documents, but it hasn’t lost its ambition or its identity. Rather, it’s evolving into a more agile, diversified, and forward-looking global macro powerhouse.

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