[5] As of December 1, 2024[update], D. E. Shaw has $70 billion in assets under management, including alternative investments and long strategies.

[6] D. E. Shaw began investing in June 1989, having secured $28 million in capital from Donald Sussman's Paloma Partners and several private investors.

[8] To avoid further loss of portfolio value and asset fire sales, D. E. Shaw temporarily halted withdrawal of funds.

[8] One year later, the Financial Times reported that investors estimated the company had honored an additional $7 billion in client redemption requests.

[14] In 2023, D. E. Shaw was charged with a penalty of $10 million by the SEC for having its employees sign confidentiality disclosure agreements from 2011-2023, without including whistleblowing rights.

[15][16] The company manages a variety of investment funds that make extensive use of quantitative methods and proprietary computational technology to support fundamental research.

In the same year, D. E. Shaw affiliate Laminar Portfolios acquired the online assets of KB Toys, which continued operating as eToys.com.

[26] In 2006, the Financial Times reported the firm's involvement as a potential financing and investment partner for Penn National Gaming (the casino and racetrack company) as an example of the breadth of Wall Street firms' involvement in the "private equity boom," describing D. E. Shaw as "a hedge fund group.

[29] D. E. Shaw entered the Indian market in 2006,[30] with Anil Chawla then the CEO of GE-Commercial finance, India & South East Asia, as the Country Manager.

This included a joint-venture with India's largest private sector company, Reliance Industries, to provide financial services.

[31][32] Other investments included real estate company DLF Assets Limited and publishing group Amar Ujala Publications, which were subject to Indian regulatory scrutiny and legal disputes.

Currently, the Executive Committee comprises Anne Dinning, Max Stone, Eric Wepsic, Eddie Fishman, Alexis Halaby, and Edwin Jager.