To be clear, its not just a simple matter of the Global Fund...

To be clear, its not just a simple matter of the Global Fund underperforming but partially the massive cash position and shifts in allocations of some underperforming stocks including Chinese stocks, as well as defensive changes in overall allocations all of which caused *permanent* capital loss.

For example if you take on a decade high cash crisis event cash position when the market is having the best period of the entire decade you aren't making that money back on the upside. There's no "she'll be right next year", there simply is damage that has been done permanently where you've taken down movements during the coronavirus slide then secured none of the upside over the course of a +-40% swing.

Again, its good to not get caught too much in the narrative that simply because they've underperformed this year that maybe the stocks they hold will have a better 2022 for example. Its just not that simple, and to be clear the damage done by some of the decisions over the past 12 months by the Magellan team destroyed a DECADE worth of outperformance over a period where the fund was far smaller and easier to manage. Last year is not recoverable, likely the best case scenario is to show some semblance of outperformance over the next 18 months or there's no reason for the business to exist.

When Bogle and Buffett chastise active funds that fail over the long term to achieve outperformance despite high fees, because of the last twelve months Magellan and their decade chart performance fits into this category of a business that doesn't have a lot of reason to exist. Either you beat the index or you don't have an active fund business. As the media storm shows, people are waking up to this.

-17% underperformance isn't a bad year its potentially fund destroying in terms of holdings. Almost certainly they aren't getting another chance in future to make the same levels of mistakes. They need to do better than hold it together to maintain reputation.