Harvard burns eight billion dollars.

Caught cold: The financial crisis breaks monstrous holes in the budgets of U.S. universities. In just four months alone made the noble Harvard University an eight-billion-minus. Investment professionals with Moon salaries have verspekuliert - and it could get worse.
  If Galpin Drew Faust, president of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has bad news, she writes a letter. So it was a month ago, when it because of the financial crisis "unprecedented losses" of the U.S. elite university announced.
And it is now: "Severe turbulence in world financial markets have agreed on all major asset classes extent to which the assets invested," wrote Faust and her deputy Edward Forst in a letter to the heads of the Department of the university - and presented the Letter with the sober headline "Financial Update" directly into the net.
REUTERSHarvard boss thumb: If the cards on the table

Given the appalling figures, which Faust and Forestry indicate probably only helps transparency and the rush forward: Eight billion dollars, the elite university on the stock exchanges in the world burned, so a little more than a fifth of the university's assets at the end June 2008 still amounted to 36.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Responsible for these massive losses in just 16 weeks, the Fondmanager the Harvard Management Company (HMC), the Harvard-owned investment company. They invest the assets of the university in the world, mostly strategically wise and with exorbitant profits.
One fifth of the assets is gone
But the current global economic crisis is even for professional investors of the most prestigious university in the world a couple of big numbers: In fiscal year 2009, which since 1 July is running, the HMC is probably the biggest losses since 1974 retract. At that time, the assets shrunk by 12.2 percent - and since then up to three minimal intrusions almost grown steadily, according to the Harvard president.

The investment strategy of HMC is mainly the fact that they usually performs far better than other Fondgesellschaften or indexes. In the last decade meant that on average assets increased 13.8 percent annually. This good performance, the manager of HMC silver, sometimes even finger-thick gold over: bonuses of up to 35 million U.S. dollars approved in peak years, the per capita manager - and brought so generous against Harvard alumni on the moon such salaries for obscene hold.
Even in the current crisis, the manager of HMC, with its record loss a little better than the stock market average, albeit by only two percentage points: The index of the 500 largest listed companies in the United States lost in the last four months, 24 percent.
Harvard expects further losses
The losses are dramatic, Harvard is building projects in size and speed "back and a" look "on attitudes and staff throw so fist in her letter. Other universities in the United States is not better: With the loss of 20 to 30 percent, the Harvard loss "in the framework", cited the stock market bloomberg.com an intelligence analysts, rating agencies Moody's.
Beutelt the crisis also Unis state, which to a lesser extent than German universities funded by the State and also from the exchange business benefit - in good times. At universities in the states of Georgia, California and New York already had employees go to the libraries will be saved, renovation work has been suspended. The prestigious University of Virginia have as Harvard fifth of their assets lost, so far 4.2 billion U.S. dollars, reported bloomberg.com.
And it is not yet over, it could get worse. The fear from the previous month, Harvard and other universities in the crisis could take up to 30 percent of their assets lose, confirmed the Harvard bosses indirectly. "Even those sobering numbers (the minus eight billion dollars) is probably not the entire size of the losses cover," wrote Harvard President Faust. All other plans calculated with a "scenario under which our assets under 30 percent from the previous year."