RE: who is paulsonhttps://www.cnbc.com/id/36599539/Who_is_John_Paulson
More than perhaps any other investor, JohnPaulson has been lauded for his foresight in predicting a quick andpainful end to this decade’s mortgage boom. And the hedge fund managerhas been rewarded handsomely for his big bets.
Hewas fourth on the 2009 annual ranking of top earners in the hedge fundindustry by AR: Absolute Return+Alpha magazine. He came in second in2008 with reported gains of $2 billion.
AndPaulson & Company's performance in 2007 was estimated to be thebest of any hedge fund, according to several publications. According toInstitutional Investor's Alpha magazine, Mr. Paulson himself made $3.7billion, at the time considered the richest bounty in Wall Streethistory.
Mr.Paulson began betting against subprime mortgages as early as 2006,setting up two funds focused for that purpose. At the time, the betseemed highly contrarian: Big firms like Merrill Lynch and Citigroupwere gorging on enormous profits by packaging and trading blocks ofrisky home loans.
AndMr. Paulson himself was a relative unknown. A native of Queens, he was aformer banker at Bear Stearns before forming his own hedge fund in1994.
He owns 14% of Sino Forest