Photo: kellywritershouse / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Howard Marks is one of the few investors whose writing I'd recommend even to people who never touch markets. As co-founder of Oaktree Capital, he built a fortune in distressed debt, but it's his memos that earn my respect, because he writes about risk, cycles, and humility with a clarity most professionals avoid. I appreciate that he frames investing as managing uncertainty rather than predicting the future, which feels honest in a field full of false confidence. A New Yorker and University of Chicago man, elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2022, he reads to me as a thinker first and a billionaire second.
Overview
Howard Stanley Marks (born 1946) is an American investor and writer. He is the co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, the largest investor in distressed securities worldwide. In 2022, with a net worth of $2.2 billion, Marks was ranked No. 1365 on the Forbes list of billionaires. Marks's essays, called "memos", are widely admired in the investment community.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Howard Marks
- Name (Japanese)
- ハワード・マークス
- Reading
- はわーど・まーくす
- Born
- April 22, 1946 (age 80)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Taurus / Dog
- Origin
- New York City, New York, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- writer / economist / financial analyst
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- University of Chicago
Awards & achievements
- 2022 Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Writer — see all → · Economist — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.