Duke University Endowment Posts 2.6% Loss for Year Ended in June

(Bloomberg) -- Duke University’s endowment reported an investment loss of 2.6 percent for fiscal 2016, following a year when the school spent more than it earned in its investments.

The fund, managed by DUMAC Inc., decreased in value in the year through June 30 to $6.8 billion, the North Carolina-based private school said Saturday in a statement. The fund’s value declined by almost 7 percent from its record of $7.3 billion the previous year.

Duke was among a group of schools, including Pomona College and Case Western Reserve University, that paid out more than they earned in the year ended June 2015. This year is proving to be worse, as some of the largest and best-performing funds have reported losses, such as Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. Duke in the statement didn’t disclose strategies the endowment used or performance by asset class.

About 430 endowments lost 2.7 percent on average in fiscal 2016, according to an estimate by Cambridge Associates, which manages $9.9 billion for endowments and foundations. The Cambridge data, like the school returns, is net of fees.

Neal Triplett has served as president of Duke’s management company since 2007. The fund’s 10-year annualized return is 7.1 percent through June 2016.

To contact the reporter on this story: Janet Lorin in New York at jlorin@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mary Romano at mromano6@bloomberg.net.