The $5b man: Wall Street's biggest payday http://www.theage.com.au/business/the-5b-man-wall-streets-biggest-payday-20110131-1aab8.html Q Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson, whose bet against the overheated housing market made him one of the world's wealthiest people, became a lot richer last year. By earning an estimated $US5 billion ($5.1 billion) in 2010 thanks mainly to bets the economy would recover, Mr Paulson likely set a record for the $US1.9 trillion hedge fund industry's biggest-ever year's earnings. He beat his own record, which he set in 2007 with a $US4 billion haul made off the subprime bet. UQ
Hedge Fund Returns: 2010 Paulson & Co: +11%. That number pertains to John Paulson's Advantage Fund. The firm saw varied performance last year as its Advantage Plus Fund returned 17%, its Recovery Fund soared 24%, its Gold Fund returned 35%, and its merger arbitrage fund returned 27%. Since 1980, the average hedge fund annual return was 12.6 per cent. But, weighted for investment flows, the average investor received only 6 per cent, they found, well below equity returns and not much better than bonds. Source: http://www.ft.com