Best Hedge Fund Manager

Best Hedge Fund Manager

What Manager Has Earned the Most Money For Clients?

Our final look at recent performance and compensation data to come out from 2011 is a nice profile of Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates.  Mr. Dalio's fund had a great year in 2011, with one fund bringing in $13.8 billion--that makes $35.8 billion for the fund's lifetime.  Now, Dalio has surpassed rivals John Paulson and George Soros for career fund earnings meaning he has made the most money for his clients than any other fund manager, ever.  If you're interested in another profile or Dalio and Bridgewater Associates, check out this New Yorker one from a while back.
Hedge fund managers are measured by two things: the size of their fund, and how much they earn for investors. Since 2009, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates has been the biggest hedge fund. According to a Feb. 29 report by Leveraged Capital Holdings (LCH), a British fund of funds, Dalio has now earned more money for clients than any other fund manager, ever.

Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha fund, which Dalio launched in 1975, made $13.8 billion in 2011, bringing its total lifetime gains to $35.8 billion. That vaults Dalio over George Soros and John Paulson for career fund earnings. Soros is the billionaire investor legendary for making $1 billion in a single day in 1992 by shorting the pound—giving him a colorful reputation for “breaking the Bank of England.” When he retired last summer, that froze his Quantum Endowment Fund’s total lifetime net gains at $31.2 billion since its launch in 1973.

John Paulson, after making billions over the past few years by shorting subprime mortgages, got crushed in 2011, losing $9.6 billion, according to Bloomberg News. That’s double Long-Term Capital Management’s epic loss of nearly $4.8 billion in 1998. Since he launched his fund in 1994, Paulson has net gains of $22.6 billion. Source

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