Schonfeld was 29 in 1988 when he started a proprietary- trading firm with about $400,000 accumulated from stockbroker jobs. Now he has 14 quantitative teams and 20 so-called fundamental equity groups that make longer-term bets in a single industry. Those teams each manage from $100 million to $1.5 billion in positions, according to executives at the company.

They said the teams have had annualized returns of more than 20 percent over the past five years. That has outpaced the Bloomberg index of long-short equity hedge funds, which topped 10 percent only once since 2009.

The executives won’t disclose how much of Schonfeld’s money they manage, other than to say that teams can invest their own money alongside his and that the $7.5 billion of positions is obtained through typical hedge-fund leverage, which can double or triple the initial capital.

The positions are up from $2 billion in December 2012, increased by returns and additional investments from Schonfeld. The firm is looking to increase that total by 15 percent to 20 percent a year, said Chief Investment Officer Ryan Tolkin, who joined two years ago from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Bucking Trend

Schonfeld is bucking the broader trend of family offices, which manage about $4 trillion globally, according to London- based researcher Campden Wealth. Many are outsourcing fund management, seeking lower costs and expertise across asset classes, said Eileen Foley, managing director of family office and charitable solutions at Bank of New York Mellon Corp.

“It’s really hard and expensive to attract and retain really good investment talent in-house,” Foley said.

While family offices are attractive to some seasoned traders because of their flexibility in investment scope and long-term horizon, they often have to convince potential employees that their strategy is a permanent one, said Sarah Burley Reid, a partner in recruitment firm Spencer Stuart’s asset and wealth-management practice.

“Some investment professionals who are more risk-averse may be less interested in a family-office situation if they are concerned that the family may reduce their commitment to the investment program at some point,” she said. “Family offices with significant capital can often have an easier time attracting top investment talent.”

Shumway, Soros