Trader Mario Gabelli
Mario Gabelli is one of the most popular traders and investors among journalists.
Constant visits to the most popular financial television shows, direct openness to journalists and stories about the dark life on Wall Street made him a star on such major television channels as CNBC and CNN.
Mario's catchphrases became quotes in major financial publishing houses, and his expert opinion was considered one of the most influential.
Mario Gabelli was born on June 19, 1942 in New York in one of the most violent areas at that time, the Bronx. His family were labor immigrants and came from Italy to the United States long before the birth of their son.
It is worth noting that Mario grew up in the most ordinary, average family, namely his father worked as a cook in one of the local restaurants, and his mother was an ordinary housewife.
Gabelli received his basic school education at a local school, after which his parents tried to enroll the boy in a private school at Fordham University.
While attending school, at the age of 13, Mario found an excellent part-time job in New York, serving balls and carrying clubs for golfers. Naturally, as a rule, far from poor people play in golf clubs, and his clients were, as a rule, investors and traders from Walt Street.
It was from them that he first learned about stocks and the influence of financial statements on their decision-making, so already at the age of 13 he sat in the evenings studying financial statements and tried to buy his first shares with the money he earned.
Studying at a private school at the university provided ample opportunities for receiving a scholarship, which Mario actually took advantage of by enrolling in college at Fordham University.
During his studies, Mario Gabelli repeatedly showed entrepreneurial savvy and was engaged in the sale of electronic flashlights and basic necessities.
After graduating from college, Mario attended Colombian Business School, where he became seriously interested in stocks. It is worth noting that at that time information on the stock markets was provided by the famous trader and investor Roger Murray, who was an ardent fan of Benjamin Graham.
Having the mentor of a practitioner, not a theorist, Mario Gabelli finally fell in love with the stock market and saw his career as a trader undeniable.
Career ladder
After receiving his MBA, Mario Gabelli gets a job as an analyst at Loeb Rhodes. His area of responsibility in the company was the selection of profitable stocks in the fields of agriculture and the automotive industry.
After working for some time in the company, Mario received a tempting offer to head the position of chief analyst at William D. Witter, which was very soon acquired by Drexel Burnham.
In 1976, Mario Gabelli, already having trading experience and first capital, opened his own company, Gabelli & Company, Inc, which was engaged in brokerage and dealer services, executing and bringing transactions to the market.
A year later, feeling solid ground under his feet, Mario created Gabelli Investors, Inc., which was later renamed GAMCO Investors, the purpose of which was to manage investors' assets.
After four years of operation, the fund had just over $33 million under management, which is what actually began to attract media.
Mario used popularization in the media to his advantage, namely, he began an active campaign to attract additional capital. In 1986, Gabelli founded his first mutual fund, Gabelli Asset Fund, and later Equity Trust.
The influx of assets proceeded at a tremendous speed and after just a few years of work, more than $600 million was concentrated in the fund’s accounts. In 1998, the funds had more than $17 billion under management and average returns of 28 percent per annum.
Today, Mario Gabelli's personal fortune is estimated at more than $1.5 billion.