Spartan Profiles: Thomas Bailey
THE JANUS FUND
In the last decade, notes Money (June 2000), “no fund company epitomizes the roaring triumph of growth-stock investing . . . more than Janus.”
Its three oldest funds boasted 10-year annual returns upwards of 21 percent, beating the 18.8 percent of the hard-to-top S&P 500 index. Likewise, Forbes ranked Janus as the decade’s best, calling it a “fund family in a class by itself,” with 12 of 14 stock funds outperforming the S&P 500. Yet a decade ago, Janus barely registered on investors’ radar screens.
It was founded in 1969 by Tom Bailey, ’61, Janus president, CEO and Chairman, who raised some money from investors to start the Janus Fund, named for the Roman god of good beginnings. In 1990, it had grown to $3.1 billion in assets in three funds. But a series of smart decisions in the last decade saw its assets under management balloon to more than $300 billion—making it the 5th largest mutual fund in the nation, ranked the No. 1 fund family by Barron’s in 1998 and 1999. No wonder Janus has been setting records for monthly money inflows.
Most observers credit Bailey, a charismatic buy shy personality, with setting the broad investment philosophy that has taken the fund company to the top of the heap. “The customer is the ultimate boss,” says Bailey. “Janus is where it is today because we’ve never stopped focusing on doing right by our investors.”
Analysts also credit Tom’s attention to detail. In 1983, when Tom hired protégé Jim Craig, who ran the flagship Janus Fund from June of 1996 through December 1999, the two would visit 13 companies in four days. After interrogating the managements, they’d check the parking lots to make sure administrative expenses didn’t include costly cars. As Tom made clear, “You can’t take anything for granted.”
