171: From Triumph to Trauma: The Dramatic Investment Arc of Neil Woodford, Founder of Woodford Investment Management

Money Maze Podcast

Business, Investing, Management, News, Business News

4.8 • 216 Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Some of our conversations are deliberately different, and the man I interview here has cost me a lot of money! I also consider him a friend and somebody whose perspective I have valued.

It could be said that Neil Woodford, CBE, has had a career of two halves, the first of which encompassed extraordinary investment success at Invesco Perpetual and then at Woodford Investment Management (2014-2019).

At its peak, Woodford’s business managed £15bn and was backed by Hargreaves Lansdowne and St. James’s Place. Its clients included Kent County Council’s pension fund, a range of wealth management firms and 300,000+ retail investors.

Yet in 2019 the fund was suspended and then liquidated, following a shift in asset allocation from blue-chip public equities to illiquid, unlisted companies (he denies this was the cause of the collapse in this discussion). In the run up to the collapse, he experienced approximately £7bn of outflows.

Using an investment lens, here we try to examine and understand what went right, what went wrong and now what may lie ahead.

Neil remains under investigation by the UK Financial Conduct Authority at the time of this interview (March 2025).

The Money Maze Podcast is kindly sponsored by Schroders, World Gold Council, LSEG and IFM Investors.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about the poor investment returns that
0:04.1	investors who backed me endured. It weighs on me, I would say, every single day. And it's a burden
0:10.9	that I'm going to have to take with me. Welcome to the MoneyMays podcast. This is your first
0:16.9	time joining us. I'm the host, Simon Brewer, and in this show we talk to proven leaders and
0:22.4	thinkers from the worlds of business, investing and beyond.
0:25.7	Money talks and money moves. Which direction would you choose?
0:30.9	It's the money maze here to pay the way.
0:35.4	To stay up to date with every episode,
0:41.3	please do sign up to our newsletter via moneymasepodcast.com.
0:44.2	Episodes are also published on our YouTube channel,
0:47.2	and we're active on all major social media platforms.
0:48.7	Thank you for listening.
0:53.4	Some of our conversations are deliberately different.
0:56.7	The man in front of me today costs me a lot of money.
1:03.9	I also consider him a friend, somebody whose perspective I have valued, somebody who has been through a traumatic time.
1:11.8	It could be said that Neil Woodford's CBE has had a career of two halves, the first of which encompassed extraordinary investment success.
1:17.3	And I hope today in using an investment lens, we can examine and understand with more clarity than may exist what went right, what went wrong, and now what may lie ahead.
1:23.4	Neil, you've come up to London today and thank you for coming, knowing that it might have been
1:27.2	easier to have stayed at home. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Good to see. And as I've researched
1:32.9	this conversation, over many hours, I spoke to people who know you, who know the industry,
1:38.3	who have invested with you, in whose companies you invested, who were on your board, and I've
1:43.5	looked at the fund data and more.
	...

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