Philippe Laffont
Belgian-born American investor; founder of Coatue Management
| Philippe Laffont
| |
|---|---|
| Born | 16 September 1967 (Forbes) Belgium (Forbes) |
| Nationality | American (Forbes) |
| Residence | New York (Forbes) |
| Occupation | Investor; hedge fund manager |
| Known for | Founder and portfolio manager of Coatue Management |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, MSc, computer science) (Coatue) |
Philippe Laffont (born 16 September 1967) is a Belgian-born American investor who founded Coatue Management, a technology-focused hedge fund and venture capital firm, in 1999.[1][2] Coatue says he is its founder and portfolio manager and leads its public and private investing businesses.[2] On 12 November 2026 the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires list ranked Laffont 382nd in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$9.5 billion; Forbes lists the source of wealth as hedge fund.[1][3] In the annual World's Billionaires list published in 2026, Forbes had ranked Laffont 461st, at US$7.9 billion.[4]
Early career
Coatue says Laffont began his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and spent several years as an independent consultant. He then worked as a research analyst at Tiger Management, focusing on telecommunications, before founding Coatue in 1999.[2] Forbes calls him a "Tiger Cub", a term for alumni of Julian Robertson's Tiger Management.[1] He holds a BS and an MSc in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[2]
Coatue Management
Forbes describes Coatue as a hedge fund and venture capital firm focused on technology investing. Its estimates of the firm's assets under management have varied: US$54 billion in its 2026 list of America's richest immigrants and US$73 billion in the 2026 Forbes 400.[1] Forbes says Coatue has invested in companies including ByteDance, the parent of TikTok, Snap and Spotify.[1] It also says Laffont is a strong advocate of artificial intelligence and that Coatue's largest listed holdings include Nvidia, Broadcom, Meta and CoreWeave.[1] Forbes reported that Coatue's hedge fund returned 25% net of fees in 2017.[1] His brother, Thomas Laffont, is a co-founder of Coatue and chief investment officer for its private investments.[2]
Political activity
Itemised FEC records for the 2022–2026 cycles list contributions under his name with Coatue as employer. They are summarised below as filed.[5]
Across the 3 non-memo records retrieved for the 2022–2026 cycles, the filtered total is US$5,800 (a lower bound). The largest recipient committees, as named in the filings, were CRUMPACKER FOR CONGRESS (US$2,900), SINEMA FOR ARIZONA (US$2,900).[5]
| Cycle | Total (US$, lower bound) | Records | Largest recipient committees (as filed with the FEC) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $5,800 | 3 | CRUMPACKER FOR CONGRESS ($2,900); SINEMA FOR ARIZONA ($2,900) |
Wealth history
Forbes has included this entry in its annual World's Billionaires list in 8 of the editions from 2001 to 2026 checked for this profile, starting with 2019. The table gives the rank and estimated net worth in each annual list, and, where applicable, the rank and estimate in the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans.[4][1]
| Year | World's Billionaires rank | Net worth (US$ bn) | Forbes 400 rank | Forbes 400 net worth (US$ bn) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1605 | 1.4 | – | – |
| 2020 | 1513 | 1.4 | – | – |
| 2021 | 1517 | 2.1 | 147 | 6.5 |
| 2022 | 386 | 6.5 | 119 | 6.9 |
| 2023 | 344 | 6.9 | 174 | 6.1 |
| 2024 | 477 | 6.1 | 198 | 6.5 |
| 2025 | 535 | 6.5 | 176 | 7.9 |
| 2026 | 461 | 7.9 | 165 | 9.5 |
International and political links
This section uses the same ten headings for every profile in this series. Only specific, sourced actions are included; company-level and foundation-level actions are labelled as such. Where nothing was found, the entry reads "No documented involvement found in sources checked."
Israel (investments, operations, donations, contracts, statements)
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Zionist or pro-Israel organisations and lobbying groups
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Jewish communal charities
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Gulf states
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
China
Forbes says Coatue has invested in ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok. This is a firm-level investment.[1]
Russia
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
India
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Palestinian or Arab causes
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Home government
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Other international links
No documented involvement found in sources checked.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Forbes, Forbes profile record for Philippe Laffont (Forbes data feed behind forbes.com/profile/philippe-laffont/) Forbes, live record, read 12 November 2026, accessed 12 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Coatue, Why CTEK: Our leadership team Coatue, undated, read 12 November 2026, accessed 12 November 2026.
- ↑ Forbes, Forbes Real-Time Billionaires data feed Forbes, live; downloaded 12 November 2026 09:42 UTC, accessed 12 November 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Forbes, Forbes World's Billionaires list data feed, annual editions 2001–2026 (one file per year at this path with the year substituted; all 26 files downloaded and read) Forbes, annual lists; downloaded 20 October 2026, accessed 12 November 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 U.S. Federal Election Commission, OpenFEC Schedule A (itemised individual contributions) query, contributor name "LAFFONT, PHILIPPE"; 2026 cycle shown in link, the 2022, 2024 and 2026 cycles were queried together with the same parameters; top 100 records by amount; records filtered by employer/occupation and name, memo entries excluded U.S. Federal Election Commission, data as filed; queried 12 November 2026, accessed 12 November 2026.