Joel Greenblatt – Author Biography
Early Life
Joel Greenblatt was born on December 13, 1957, in Great Neck, New York. He studied at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude in 1979 and earning his MBA in 1980. He briefly attended Stanford Law School before dropping out to pursue investing — a decision that made him very wealthy.
Career
In 1985, Greenblatt founded the hedge fund Gotham Capital, which compounded at extraordinary rates — roughly 50% annualized before fees from 1985 to 1994 — by investing in spin-offs, restructurings, and other “special situations” Wall Street ignored. In 1996 he began teaching value investing at Columbia Business School, where his course became legendary. He later founded Gotham Asset Management and co-founded the Value Investors Club, an invitation-only idea-sharing site.
Major Works
You Can Be a Stock Market Genius (1997), on profiting from special situations, and The Little Book That Beats the Market (2005), which introduced the “Magic Formula” — a simple two-factor system ranking stocks by earnings yield and return on capital. He later wrote The Big Secret for the Small Investor (2011).
Writing Style and Themes
Greenblatt writes about investing with rare clarity and humor, translating academic finance into plain English anyone can follow. His core belief is Graham-and-Buffett value investing made systematic: buy good businesses at cheap prices, diversify, and be patient. The Magic Formula embodies his philosophy that disciplined process beats genius stock-picking. His theme is democratization — giving small investors tools the professionals use.
Legacy
Greenblatt is one of the most respected value investors of his generation, and the Magic Formula is among the most famous — and most backtested — strategies in investing literature. His Columbia course has trained a generation of fund managers, and his books remain essential reading for anyone serious about understanding how markets reward patience and discipline.
