"It's finally reaching a tipping point," Bill told Reuters on the sidelines of "SALT," as the event is known. "Hedge funds are seeing the writing on the wall."
But better terms don't always make up for hedge fund losses.
"I'm not happy with performance. Only a small percentage of managers can earn their fees," Roslyn Zhang, managing director for fixed income and absolute return investments at China Investment Corp, told Reuters. "Luckily we have some of them. But with the others we are evaluating what to do with them."
A benchmark of all strategies, the Hedge Fund Intelligence Global Composite Index, gained just 2 percent last year and is down 0.36 percent in 2016 through April.
Under Attack
The SALT conference, in its eighth year, is the most prominent hedge fund-focused event in the U.S. Organized by SkyBridge's managing partner Anthony Scaramucci, the event mixes well-known investors with politicians and celebrities.
This year, speakers included Citadel founder and billionaire Ken Griffin, recently retired basketball star Kobe Bryant, former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, and transgender rights advocate Caitlyn Jenner. The reggae band The Wailers performed on Wednesday night; on Thursday, rockers The Killers entertained the male-heavy crowd.
Outside of the main Bellagio ballroom, besuited salespeople pitched prospects in the hallways, networked and drank at sponsored poolside cabanas, and, after-hours, played craps on the hotel's expansive casino floor.
Hedge fund managers' newfound willingness to compromise comes as the industry faces a barrage of negative attention.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have both pilloried hedge fund managers, and some large investors, especially those tied to public workers unions, have been openly critical of the industry.