American Century Investments

American Century Investments

James E. Stowers Jr. founded American Century in 1958 as Twentieth Century Mutual Funds, initially offering a single growth fund from a Kansas City office. The firm changed its name in 2000, the same year Stowers transferred majority ownership to the newly created Stowers Institute for Medical Research. That transaction converted a traditional for-profit asset manager into a unique hybrid: a commercial investment operation whose profits flow largely to endow a biomedical research institute. Today the firm runs active equity, fixed-income, multi-asset, and alternatives strategies for institutional and retail clients across more than 30 countries. American Century's investment floor spans U.S. large-cap growth equity, international and emerging-market strategies, global fixed income, and a growing alternatives platform that includes hedge fund replication, real estate securities, and private credit. The firm builds many of its equity portfolios around proprietary quantitative models and fundamental research teams in Kansas City, Mountain View, New York, and London. Its disciplined U.S. growth franchise has attracted significant institutional capital over decades. The firm also manages a suite of ETFs and subadvised mandates. In private markets, it has expanded into direct lending and commercial real estate debt, competing with mid-market credit managers for institutional allocations. Geographic coverage includes North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, with distribution offices in Hong Kong and Sydney. American Century employs roughly 1,400 professionals worldwide. President and CEO Jonathan Thomas has led the firm since 2007, overseeing growth from roughly $100 billion to more than $200 billion in assets under management. The firm maintains investment offices in New York and Mountain View alongside its Kansas City headquarters, with additional distribution hubs in London, Hong Kong, and Sydney. In September 2023, the firm launched American Century Private Credit Fund, a perpetually offered interval fund targeting middle-market direct lending opportunities (per SEC filings, September 2023). The Stowers Institute connection remains the firm's defining structural feature; since the ownership transfer, American Century has distributed more than $2 billion to fund biomedical research. American Century's structure creates a competitive moat in client conversations. An asset manager whose majority owner is a medical research institute can credibly argue its interests align with long-term client outcomes rather than quarterly shareholder demands. The firm's profit distributions have funded the Stowers Institute's work on genomic sequencing and cellular regeneration. No other U.S. asset manager of comparable size operates under this model. The Stowers family retains minority voting control, and two Stowers Institute board members sit on American Century's board, ensuring the philanthropic mission persists through leadership transitions.