NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - March 25, 2009) - Times may be tough for most folks, but not for
the top moneymakers on "Alpha" magazine's eighth annual ranking of the
world's highest-earning hedge fund managers. They took home, on average, an
anything but average $464 million apiece in 2008. Altogether the 25
highest-earning hedge fund managers made $11.6 billion, making 2008 the
third-best year on record since "Alpha" began compiling its exclusive
ranking.
Renowned quantitative investor James Simons, 70, the founder of East
Setauket, New York-based Renaissance Technologies Corp., earns the No. 1
spot by making an incredible $2.5 billion in 2008. Simons, a former Stony
Brook University math professor who took top honors in the 2006 and 2007
rankings, reclaims the crown of highest earner from fellow billionaire John
Paulson. The founder of New York-based Paulson & Co. -- who made a record
$3.7 billion in 2007 betting against the subprime mortgage market --
Paulson, 53, saw his earnings drop to a still kingly sum of $2 billion last
year. He is followed by wunderkind John Arnold, the 34-year-old founder of
Houston-based Centaurus Energy, who made $1.5 billion last year trading
mostly natural gas, and legendary hedge fund manager George Soros, 78, who
earned $1.1 billion in part from a good call against the dollar.
All but Arnold are repeat top-four finishers in "Alpha's" annual ranking,
which is being rolled out today at
www.Alphamagazine.com with profiles of
the 11 biggest moneymakers. The remaining 14 profiles will be available
online on Thursday, March 26, along with "Alpha's" list of eight of the
biggest losers -- managers who lost a combined $6.2 billion in personal
wealth in 2008.
"The hedge fund industry has a well-deserved reputation for enormous wealth
creation," says Michael Peltz, Executive Editor of "Alpha." "But events of
the past year have been a grim reminder that the hedge fund industry can
also be a source of incredible wealth destruction."
This year's "Alpha" ranking has a record nine European managers, including
London-based David Harding of Winton Capital Management and Alan Howard of
Brevan Howard Asset Management, who each made $250 million in 2008.
Short-seller James Chanos of Kynikos Associates, No. 12, with $225 million
in earnings, is one of a dozen managers who appear on the ranking for the
very first time. "Alpha" uses two components to calculate earnings: the
managers' shares of their firm's performance and management fees, as well
as gains on their own capital invested in their funds.
The top five moneymakers for 2008:
1. James Simons (Renaissance Technologies Corp.) $2.5 billion
2. John Paulson (Paulson & Co.) $2 billion
3. John Arnold (Centaurus Energy) $1.5 billion
4. George Soros (Soros Fund Management) $1.1 billion
5. Raymond Dalio (Bridgewater Associates) $780 million
This year's top-earning managers are probably hoping that history doesn't
repeat itself. In November 2008 the five managers who headlined the "Alpha"
list of top earners for 2007 -- Paulson, Soros and Simons, as well as
Harbinger Capital Partners' Philip Falcone and Citadel Investment Group's
Kenneth Griffin (the latter two are both off the list this year) -- were
called to Washington to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and
Government Reform on the systemic risks posed by hedge funds.
About "Alpha" Magazine
"Alpha" is the world's leading publication covering the hedge fund
industry. Through a combination of thorough analyses, sharp profiles and
in-depth investigations, "Alpha" has kept pace with and laid bare the inner
workings of this complex, ever-changing world. A sister publication to
Institutional Investor, "Alpha" magazine reaches a broad range of financial
services professionals. Readers include hedge fund managers, bankers, chief
investment officers at pension funds, regulators and government officials.
For more information, visit
www.Alphamagazine.com.
Contact Information: Contact:
James Johnson
212-224-3131
jamesjohnson@iimagazine.com