Ryan Jacob Leaving Internet Fund

Ryan Jacob, who managed the (WWWFX Quote)Internet fund to a 271% return over the past year, has resigned.

Peter Doyle, one of the fund's co-founders and soon-to-be chairman of the fund's adviser, Kinetics Asset Management, says Jacob left the fund Wednesday because he wanted to start his own company.

Steven Tuen, 30, will take his place. Tuen is director of the newsletter IPO Value Monitor, a job held by Jacob before he took over the Internet fund.

Tuen, who also works for Horizon Asset Management, as Jacob once did, has never before managed a mutual fund, though he has eight years' experience in asset management and investment research, says Doyle.

Jacob did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Doyle said the fund is continuing to beef up its research staff, and is in the process of hiring two more analysts.

"We're expanding the talent pool of the fund," Doyle said.

Some shareholders of the fund might disagree. Under Jacob's management, the fund consistently outperformed its peers in up and down markets.

Doyle said he's not overly concerned about the prospect that assets that flowed into the fund -- it grew to more than $700 million in April from $5 million late last year -- might follow Jacob out the door.

"Historically, if you look back in the industry, managers change," Doyle says. "It's the nature of the business."

Doyle says that much of the fund's portfolio won't change immediately, and he thinks the fund will continue to turn in above-average returns.

"We're very comfortable with 95% of the names in the portfolio now," Doyle says. "The Internet sector has expanded dramatically and is just going to need to expand to a broader infrastructure in the future."

Jacob's departure follows a failed attempt to sell the Internet fund to Lepercq de Neuflize, the firm where Jacob keeps his offices. He was to become an officer of the firm upon completion of the sale.