A big management shift is underway at Tiger Global Management. Scott Shleifer, the head of the investment giant’s $30 billion-plus private equity business, will step down from his role at the end of the year. The development was first reported by The Information.

Shleifer, however, will remain with the New York-based hedge fund as a partner and move to the role of a senior advisor from 1 January 2024, Tiger Global founder Chase Coleman said in a letter to investors on Tuesday, according to Bloomberg. Coleman will form an investment committee—which he will head—to replace Shleifer’s role.

Shleifer’s decision was “based largely on geography,” Coleman wrote in the letter. “Tiger Global is operating in-person out of our New York offices, whereas Scott and his family have made their home in Florida and want to stay there.”

Coleman’s letter also noted that having all of the investment firm’s employees together in New York “is highly productive and a better operating model for our firm”.

Shleifer’s move comes four years after Lee Fixel, who launched Tiger’s private equity business with Shleifer, stepped down to start his own company.

A long association: Shleifer, 46, was among the first to be hired by Tiger Global, which was founded in 2001. Over two decades, he has been instrumental in identifying many opportunities from tech companies across the world, especially in China. E-commerce groups JD.com and Ctrip.com, for instance, saw him as an early backer.

More recently, he managed Tiger Global’s investments in over 100 private tech companies, such as FTX and OpenAI, says the Financial Times. With Shleifer helming the private equity unit, Tiger Global drew attention for making big investments and bold bets swiftly. “They are fast,” a VC investor had said about Shleifer and John Curtius (a former Tiger Global partner), while talking to The Morning Context for a story in 2021. “It is like they come to the transaction with their mind already made up. And if they are taking more than three days you should start worrying because most likely they won’t invest.” (Read: Saying yes, the Tiger Global way.)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Shleifer reportedly moved to an estate in Palm Beach, Florida, working mostly from his home. At the time, it was the second-most expensive single-family home in the US, TechCrunch reported.

Uncertain times for Tiger Global: Shleifer’s decision to step down from his role comes at a time when the industry is reeling under a downturn, and Tiger Global is struggling as a result. A rout in tech stocks starting late 2022 had triggered a slide in the valuations of startups.

Last year saw Tiger Global marking down the investments in its venture funds by nearly 33%, followed by a $23 billion decline in value, says Bloomberg. This has also forced it to go slow on investments.

Worse, the response to Tiger Global’s latest venture fund has been tepid. It had raised just $2.06 billion as of June, less than half its target.