There was a new and interesting report out of the Financial Times recently that analyzed the top ten hedge fund managers of all time according to their historical trading returns. According to the report, George Soros was the most successful manager with a total return of $32 billion for his fund spanning the last 30+ years. John Paulson of Paulson & Co came in second with a total return of $26.4 billion while Ray Dalio, Bruce Kovner, Seth Klarman, Alan Howard, David Tepper, Louis Bacon, Steven Cohen and Eddie Lampert rounded out the top ten.
Soros founded the Quantum Fund in 1973 and came into fame with his 1992 Black Wednesday “Broke the Bank of England” trade with deputy Stanley Druckenmiller that netted the fund over $1 billion.
According to new research, the 80-year-old Mr Soros has produced $32bn for his customers since setting up in 1973, an average of over $900m a year. Put another way, Mr Soros and his team of 300 have made their investors more than the total earnings of Apple, which employs 34,300, or Alcoa, one of America’s 30 largest manufacturers.When it comes to the hedge fund mantra of “absolute returns”, Mr Soros is leader of the pack.
