Joseph Sr

Joseph M. Boskovich Sr. is the founder of Old West Investment Management, which was established in 2008. The firm is based in Los Angeles and manages equity, fixed income and alternative assets for individuals and institutions through separately managed accounts and limited partnerships. Old West’s 2024 Form ADV states that Boskovich is the firm’s chairman and principal owner, with more than 25% of the firm’s outstanding shares.

Before founding Old West, Boskovich spent seven years as Vice Chairman of Aletheia Research and Management, Inc., where his responsibilities included co-portfolio management and marketing. Old West’s team page says he helped grow Aletheia’s assets under management from roughly $80 million to more than $10 billion.

Boskovich’s first career was in agriculture. He was CEO of Boskovich Farms, Inc., one of the largest privately held produce growing and processing businesses in the United States. In that role he built major commercial relationships with customers including Wal-Mart, Costco, Sysco, Safeway, Albertson’s, Kroger and Disney. He also served for more than 10 years on the board of Santa Clarita National Bank and helped negotiate its sale to Security Pacific National Bank, now part of Bank of America.

He earned both his undergraduate degree and MBA from the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. USC lists him as a Life Trustee, and USC Today reported that he received a USC Alumni Merit Award in 2016 and had been a USC trustee since 1999.

• Old West’s core thesis is businesslike value investing: the firm says it views stocks and bonds as ownership or creditor stakes in underlying businesses, not just tradable instruments.
• The firm emphasizes downside protection and “margin of safety,” seeking securities priced at a large discount to intrinsic business value.
• Management quality is central. Old West says its process starts with aligning with management teams that have high stock ownership and smart compensation incentives.
• Boskovich has said he often begins with the proxy statement because incentives matter; Old West looks at how much stock management owns, how management is paid, and whether incentives are tied to real rather than adjusted metrics.
• Old West screens for insider buying. In a 2023 interview, Boskovich described Greg Heckman’s personal purchase of Bunge stock as the kind of event that attracts Old West’s attention.
• Old West’s Form ADV says its long strategies seek financially strong companies led by excellent management teams, with outstanding economics and growth opportunities, available below the firm’s estimate of underlying business value.
• The firm is not a seed-stage venture investor based on available sources; its disclosed strategy is public-market investment management.