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tions equipment and technology—Lucent Technology and Micron Technology.2 He was highly skeptical of most Internet valuations. He eventually hired Thomas Kurlak, a former Merrill Lynch semiconductor analyst, in February 1999. As a managing director of technology research, Kurlak had been at Merrill Lynch for about 20 years.

I was particularly struck by his answer to the question on what motivates him. "Unlike Wall Street this week, this is really a fun business. I think most of us in it would almost work for free. That's the big motivation in it. I like to compete in it. These are the things that make it fun for me. Reflecting on my colleagues and competitors, they are a fine group of people in the business, and it's fun to be associated with all of them."3

One of the last questions concerned his stock picks. He mentioned US Airways as well as a number of financial stocks which he found attractive, such as Bear Stearns, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America.

North Carolina Beginnings

Robertson was born in Salisbury, North Carolina. His father was a role model who passed on his fascination with investments to his children. At 90, Julian Sr. was still active running a textile mill for the Erlanger family of New York City. One of his hobbies was stocks, and he was an active investor after the Crash of 1929. When the Erlangers were convinced that the markets would recover, they lent Julian Sr. money to invest.5

"I still remember the first time I ever heard of stocks. My parents went away on a trip and a great aunt stayed with me. She showed me in the paper a company called United Corp., which was trading on the Big Board and selling for about $1.25. And I realized that I could even save up enough to buy the shares. I watched it. Sort of gradually stimulated my interest." He was six at the time.6

After graduating from the University of North Carolina with a degree in business administration, Robertson had a stint in the Navy and afterward joined Kidder Peabody, where he stayed for 20 years. For most of those years he was a stockbroker and then he headed up Webster Management, the money management unit.

He started Tiger Management in May 1980 with $8 million—$2 million of his own money and $6 million from outside investors. By 1991, the firm approached $1 billion in assets under management. At its