John Burbank

John Burbank founded Passport Capital in San Francisco in 2000, building it into a global macro and equity fund that managed over $5 billion at its peak. Like John Paulson, Burbank made substantial profits betting against subprime mortgage securities before the 2008 crisis, gaining recognition as one of the few fund managers who correctly anticipated the magnitude of the collapse. Passport developed expertise in commodity-linked equities and emerging market themes, including significant positions in natural resource companies and frontier markets. The fund experienced headwinds in later years as some macro theses did not play out on expected timelines, leading to investor redemptions and eventually converting to a family office structure. Burbank remained a respected voice on global macro themes and structural market dislocations.