2025 Sohn San Francisco: Kingsford Capital’s Mike Wilkins – The Delisting Crisis: A Case Study

Mike Wilkins, Co-founder and Managing Member of Kingsford Capital Management, spoke at the 2025 Sohn San Francisco Conference, challenging the predominant narrative that the United States suffers from a crisis of too few public companies. Wilkins, whose firm is one of the longest running hedge funds with a short-bias in the industry, argued forcefully that the current market reality is the opposite: there are, in fact, too many public companies. This surplus, according to Wilkins, is not reflected in market capitalization, which is at an all-time high, but in the raw number of symbols that lack any qualitative merit. He believes that atempts by regulators and exchanges to reverse the decline in listings have resulted only in lowered standards, ensuring a continuous supply of "junk" listings that erode investor capital.

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Kingsford Capital’s Short-Bias Philosophy and Context

Kingsford Capital Management, co-founded by Wilkins in 2001, operates as a short-biased hedge fund specializing in small and micro cap US-listed equities. Wilkins has served the San Francisco investment community for well over two decades. Prior to establishing Kingsford 23 years ago, he managed a short book for another hedge fund for six years. He was also a partner at West Highland Capital from 1995 to 2001, and he holds corporate finance experience from his time at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods (KBW).

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Despite his role as a short seller, Wilkins stated he tries "to be optimistic," viewing the glass as "one third full". This perspective, he explained, allows him to identify situations that are "out of whack" without being categorized as a "dower bomb thrower". Kingsford Capital is also notable for hosting the famous short sellers event, which celebrated its 20th year in September.