These are the 25 highest-paid hedge fund managers

If you thought the crippling economic effects of COVID-19 made all of us poorer, you would be wrong. The pandemic has been a godsend for some of the wealthiest people on earth. Not only did they not lose money, but some of them actually made more than ever before.

Hedge fund managers are high on the list of the world’s billionaires who made it big in 2020. Here were the top 25 of 2020.

Izzy Englander

No. 1 on our list is Millennium Management’s Israel “Izzy” Englander, who grossed a payday of $3.6 billion last year. The fund had a very strong performance, gaining investors a total of 26%. The key to the fund’s success and Izzy’s hefty paycheck was choosing winning stocks rather than performing quantitative market analysis. It goes to show that, during a unique crisis, some strategies work better than others.

James Simons

No. 2 is Renaissance Technologies’ James Simons, who made $2.8 billion in 2020. The fund he manages for outside investors lost money in 2020. The good news was that his Medallion fund, mainly for company employees and not open to outsiders, had a great year and made an impressive profit of 76%.

Chase Coleman

The third spot is occupied by Chase Coleman, the founder and manager of Tiger Global Management. For his great performance in 2020, when he earned his investors $10.4 billion, he was paid $2.5 billion. Chase Coleman currently has a net worth of $10.3, and a good portion of it came from last year.

Ken Griffin

Fourth on the list is the founder of Citadel, Ken Griffin. He made $1.8 billion in 2020, which is quite an achievement during a year that was full of doubts, economic crisis, and a raging pandemic. Citadel, in general, had a great year, generating returns of +24%.

Chris Hohn

Tied with Griffin is the Children’s Investment Fund Management’s Chris Hohn, who was paid $1.8 billion for his fund’s performance last year. He only comes in after Ken because his fund only returned 14%, half of what Citadel grossed.

Philippe Laffont

Philippe Laffont, manager of Coatue Management, which gained 65%, got paid $1.6 billion in 2020. He deserved every cent, since he managed to navigate a pandemic and a political and economic crisis to grow his fund five times more than it grew the previous year.

David Tepper

Close to Philippe Laffont came David Tepper, who made $1.3 billion last year. He was paid this amount for managing his hedge fund, Appaloosa Management. His net worth at the moment is estimated to be around $15.2 billion, and he’s one of those who have used his immense wealth to help others.

Steven Cohen

No. 8 is Steve Cohen, the owner of the New York Mets baseball team. In 2020, he was paid $1.3 billion for his performance as a hedge fund manager, and with his other income streams, he totaled $1.7 billion that year. He’s currently worth around $14.6 billion.

Michael Platt

The co-founder of BlueCrest Capital, British investor Michael Platt, topped $1.2 billion in 2020. This puts him eighth on our list of the top 25 earners. His pay comes from managing Bluecrest Capital, which gained an impressive 95% last year.

Raymond Dalio

A familiar name on our list is Ray Dalio, who made $1.1 billion from Bridgewater Associates, even though the fund itself lost over $12 billion for its investors. Even so, he’s still considered the best-performing fund manager of all time.

Nelson Peltz

In 2020, Nelson Peltz made $835 million from his hedge fund, Trian Fund Management. This makes him the ninth on our list, and this payment alone literally doubled his net worth, which today stands at approximately $1,7 billion. Peltz is definitely not one of those who will remember 2020 with a sour taste in their mouth.

Stephen Mandel Jr.

Stephen Mandel Jr., the former managing director at Tiger Management, now manages Lone Pine Capital. This Tiger Cub fund produced returns of 38% last year, which earned Steve $835 million, tying with Nelson Peltz in terms of earnings as a hedge fund manager.

David Siegel

David Siegel, the computer scientist behind Two Sigma Investments, has a net worth estimated at $6.5 billion, and in 2020, he made $700 million, which earned him the 13th spot on our list. Two Sigma’s returns for that year reached 18% through quantitative trading.

John Overdeck and David Siegel

As we just saw, 2020 was a great year for Two Sigma, thanks to John Overdeck and David Siegel, who were paid $1.4 billion in total for their performance as fund managers. As a consequence, Overdeck and Siegle are tied for 13th place.

Jeffrey Talpins

Jeffrey Talpins is an American hedge fund manager who did pretty good for himself in 2020 while managing Element Capital Management. After securing himself a paycheck of $500 million after gaining 18.8% for its investors, he increased his net worth to an estimated $3.5 billion.

Paul Tudor Jones II

Paul Tudor Jones II is a good earner with a paycheck of $500 million in 2020, tying with Shaw and Talpins. He’s an extremely successful fund manager who currently manages Element Capital Management, a macro hedge fund that gained 18.8 % in 2020.

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn is an American investor who has a net worth of around $16.5 billion, making him one of the wealthiest hedge fund managers in the country. Icahn made most of his money through smart investments and, more recently, through his position as chairman of Icahn Partners. As a hedge fund manager, he was paid $480 million last year.

Alan Howard

Alan Howard is a British billionaire hedge fund manager who is a longtime backer of the crypto industry. His net worth went from $1.3 to $1.6 billion in 2020, thanks to the $300 million he was paid for managing Brevan Howard, a hedge fund that gained 99% last year.

Crispin Odey

Crispin Odey is a British hedge fund manager and the man who famously shorted Greece’s economy, making a great deal of money in the process. He made $200 million last year, which puts him at 19th place on our list. Even so, the Odey Asset Management firm wasn’t very successful in 2020, with its flagship fund, the Odey European fund, losing over 20%.

Greg Jensen

Rounding out the first 20 top-earning hedge fund managers this year is Greg Jensen, the co-CEO of Bridgewater Associates. Currently ranked as the third-largest hedge fund in the world with $140 billion in assets under management, Bridgewater lost over $12 billion in assets last year. However, since many of its clients are major institutional investors who plan on keeping their funds invested for the long term, Jensen was compensated with $150 million.

Peter Muller

Peter Muller, the man behind PDT Partners, had a decent year in 2020, with returns of 8.3%. Such performance earned him a payment of $150 million, which puts him tied with Greg Jensen. This makes Muller a successful hedge fund manager even during market downturns.

Robert Prince

Coming from Bridgewater Associates, one of the biggest hedge fund firms in the world, it’s no wonder Robert Prince earned a paycheck of $150 million, even though the fund performed poorly because of the pandemic. Tying with both Peter Muller and Greg Jensen, it makes you wonder what he would have earned had the fund closed the year in the green.

Steven Schonfeld

We’re reaching the bottom of our list of the 25 top-earning hedge fund managers, and we still see paychecks of more than $100 million. This is also the case with Steven Schonfeld, CEO and CIO of Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, an $8.8 billion hedge fund. The firm’s Fundamental Equity fund returned 14.4% in profits, while its flagship Strategic Partners fund netted an increase of 9.4%. For his efforts, Steven received $130 million, putting him at No. 23 on our list.

Paul Singer

Paul Singer is currently managing Elliott Investment Management and earned $100 million last year. The firm, which specializes in distressed debt and is one of the largest hedge funds in the world, has over $74 billion in assets under management. It showed a growth of almost 13% last year, so Singer’s paycheck could have been higher.

Peter Brown

Just like Paul Singer, Peter Brown was also paid $100 million during 2020. While this fades into the background when compared to Izzy’s payday, which brought in 36 times what Peter Brown made, $100 million is still a lot of money and not something to frown at. Peter is currently the CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund that made significant gains in 2020, as we saw before.