The CEO of a $68 billion investment firm suddenly quit, says he's going to sit on the beach and 'do nothing'

• Jupiter Fund Management CEO Andrew Formica is leaving the $68 billion firm to hang at the beach and "do nothing."
• Formica, 51 years old, joined the London-based asset manager in 2019, but now plans to return home to Australia.
• "I just want to go sit at the beach and do nothing. I'm not thinking about anything else," Formica told Bloomberg.

While working in the investment industry can be a grind, some can't seem to get enough of it, evidenced by the seemingly endless drive of successful investors like Warren Buffett and Carl Icahn, who are 91 and 86 years old, respectively.

So it's rare to see a relatively young, successful investment manager retire early to hit the beach, but that's just what Andrew Formica of Jupiter Fund Management is doing.

The 51 year-old CEO of the London-based $68 billion investment firm said he is leaving the firm in October to head to the beach in his home country of Australia.

"I just want to go sit at the beach and do nothing. I'm not thinking about anything else," Formica told Bloomberg in an interview this week. Formica has lived in the UK for three decades and said personal reasons were the main driver behind his exit, including wanting to be closer to his parents.

Before Jupiter, Formica led the 2017 merger between US fund company Janus and UK-based Henderson, but ultimately lost an ensuing leadership battle at Janus Henderson in 2018 to his co-CEO. The job likely didn't get any easier for Formica when he joined Jupiter in 2019, which has experienced four consecutive years of net outflows from clients.

Formica will be succeeded by Matthew Beesley, Jupiter's chief investment officer, and will step down from his position on October 1, just in time for Australia's summer season.