For the first time in 4 years, Appaloosa Management's David Tepper is not the highest-earning hedge fund manager in the world. Plunging from No.1 to tied-for-11th (with a mere $400 million earned last year) Tepper appears to have suddenly found investing difficult now that The Fed has stopped printing money (up just 2.2%). What is more ironic, perhaps, is that the other alleged beneficiary of Fed largesse (and recent hirer or blogger Ben Bernanke) - Citadel tops the list with Ken Griffin making $1.3 billion last year.
David Tepper relinquishes the top spot on the Rich List for the first time in three years after posting a disappointing 2.2 percent gain, the worst performance of anyone in the ranking. Still, the legendary investor - who has earned a total of nearly $15 billion in his 11 years on the list - is tied for No. 11 with $400 million in earnings thanks to the huge stockpile of his own cash in Appaloosa’s funds.
Tepper is the only one of last year’s three highest earners who even qualified for this year’s ranking. Paulson, who finished third on the 2013 ranking with $2.3 billion, lost money in most of his funds last year. SAC Capital Advisors’ Steven Cohen, No. 2 last year with $2.4 billion, is no longer in the hedge fund business.
So it seems unless you are cheating or just momo-leveraged blindly to the most-risky stuff with the Fed at your back.. it's not so easy.
Citadel top... Tepper not...
Harsh memories of the global financial crisis pervaded Wall Street in 2014 — at least, for the highest-earning hedge fund managers.
Last year turned out to be the worst one for this elite group of investors since the stock market meltdown of 2008.
How bad was it? The 25 hedge fund managers on our 14th annual Rich List made a paltry $11.62 billion combined, barely half of the $21.15 billion the top 25 gained the previous year and roughly equal to what they took home during nightmarish 2008. The average earnings were just $467 million last year, down from $846 million in 2013, while the median earner made $400 million, down from $465 million the previous year.
