Founder of Brave Warrior Advisors — a New York value investor known for highly concentrated portfolios, and son of baseball legend Hank Greenberg.
Life story
Glenn Greenberg is the son of baseball legend Hank Greenberg and Caral Gimbel of the Gimbels department-store family. He grew up in Cleveland, where his father was general manager of the Cleveland Indians. His parents divorced in 1958.
He was an athlete in his youth, playing college football and competing in squash. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, studied literature at Yale and later earned an MBA from Columbia Business School.
How they got started
He came to finance late: he first taught for several years and rose to school principal. After business school he worked at Morgan Guaranty Trust (J.P. Morgan) and Central National-Gottesman. He says he discovered value investing while analysing a redwood timber company at J.P. Morgan.
In 1984 he co-founded Chieftain Capital Management with John Shapiro. According to Hedge Fund Alpha, from 1984 to 2000 the firm compounded at about 25% a year before fees, versus 16% for the S&P 500.
In 2009 the partners split over a personality conflict: Shapiro kept the Chieftain name, while Greenberg continued the business under the new name Brave Warrior Advisors.
Investment style
Greenberg runs a very concentrated portfolio — typically around 12 positions, often each above 5%. He looks for "two-inch putts": low-risk, high-return opportunities that are almost sure things.
He focuses mainly on US companies, uses discounted cash-flow analysis with a demanding 14–15% hurdle rate, and thinks like a long-term owner. His motto: "If you are going to be an investor, you have to do the numbers yourself."
Best decisions
Chieftain's first 16 years
From 1984 to 2000 Chieftain Capital compounded at about 25% a year before fees, well ahead of the S&P 500's 16%. Over the full period through 2010, returns after fees averaged about 18% a year.
Biggest mistakes
A huge Valeant position
In November 2014 Valeant Pharmaceuticals made up about 32% of Brave Warrior's portfolio (held since 2011). From 2015, amid an accounting scandal tied to Philidor and government investigations, Valeant's shares fell more than 90% by 2017. The sources we reviewed do not state how much Greenberg lost, but the episode is a vivid example of concentration risk.
Today
As of 2026 Greenberg is founder and chief investment officer of Brave Warrior Advisors, and since 2019 he has served on the national board of the Posse Foundation, an education charity. The sources we reviewed do not give a reliable birth year.
What to learn from following the portfolio
- The portfolio is highly concentrated — the top few positions show Greenberg's strongest convictions, and a large new position is a serious signal.
- The Valeant episode shows that even a skilled investor's largest holding can collapse — do not lean too heavily on a single stock.
- The 13F lags by up to 45 days and shows only long US equities; Greenberg's trade price may differ from today's.
- Islamic-finance lens: check the sector of every position in a concentrated book — financials and highly leveraged companies usually are not halal, while technology and industrial companies may be. Check each position's halal status on the Portfolio tab.
An introduction based on public sources — not investment advice. Spotted an error? Let us know.