Another top data executive is out at Point72.
Kirk McKeown, who led proprietary research at the hedge fund, has left the firm, according to people familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Insider.
McKeown, who joined the firm eight years ago and created its Canvas Fundamental Research Group, had been deliberating his departure for weeks and is leaving to start a data and research company, according to the memo.
"Kirk plans to leave the industry to pursue his entrepreneurial interests focused on bringing research and insights to other parts of the world," Point72 founder Steve Cohen said in the memo. "He and I began discussing his next steps at the end of last year, and I look forward to seeing what Kirk does in his new endeavors."
A spokesperson for Point72 confirmed the departure but declined to comment.
Matt Dowd has been appointed to head of market intelligence, according to the memo. Dowd joined in 2016 after a decade with the FBI, serving as chief of staff in market intelligence and most recently as the proprietary research operating officer.
McKeown is the second senior member of the firm's market-intelligence unit to depart in as many months.
In early December, Matthew Granade, the head of market intelligence and the firm's Fusion quant portfolio, exited Point72 amid a broader shake-up in which Fusion folded into the firm's Cubist systematic-trading operation.
Point72 ended 2020 with $19 billion in assets. It raised $1.5 billion at the end of January after losing 10% amid the short-selling chaos that stung Melvin Capital. Cohen invested $750 million into the fund of his former star portfolio manager Gabe Plotkin alongside fellow the hedge-fund billionaire Ken Griffin, who put $2 billion into Melvin.
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